On the Wings of an Angel
by MisteryMaiden
Summary: All angel's know that when they die, they cease to exist. All angel's know that there's no 'after' for them. Just like all angel's know that God created more than one Earth. Gabriel's about to find that one of those two facts isn't as set in stone as he thought and that the true answer to one has to do with the truth in the other. Maybe dying wasn't as bad as it could of been.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

No one knew what happened to Angels when they died, not even the Archangels. Death wasn't talking, either, so the Heavenly Host had just assumed that they ceased to exist upon their destruction.

Gabriel was finding out that that wasn't entirely true.

He was only partially aware of the forest around him but that didn't mean anything as he was restricted inside the bark of the tree which held his Grace. It was odd, he noted, not being a full conscious and only being part of himself. If this was what it was like when angel's Fell, than Gabriel couldn't see the appeal of it. It was beyond _boring_.

Of course he wasn't the full consciousness of the Archangel Gabriel. He was just the Grace and the Angelic memories that a human brain wouldn't be able to handle. Every now and again, new memories would join him in the tree but Gabriel didn't pay much attention to those additions. He had a feeling that it would only make his entrapped state that much more difficult to handle.

Gabriel was also aware that he was no longer on the original Earth. His Father had made many different universes (and with them, Earths) but the original was the one where the Winchester's had been born. As it was the First Earth, most angels focused on that one as well, with a few seraphs assigned to keep tabs on the other universes. Gabriel himself had mostly kept to that Earth but every once in a while, he would sneak up to Heaven and to another Earth when he was bored enough.

He wondered how everything was going on that Earth; his last memory was of Lucifer killing him after all and he really hoped that he didn't die for those Winchester's just to muck up that plan he'd given them. Then again, Gabriel very much doubted that Lucifer would let the other Earth's be just because he had managed to destroy that particular one so it was likely that those two morons had managed to succeed.

It was also apparent to Gabriel that the forest around him was mostly dead, which was something that felt odd to him. There were plenty of creatures living in this forest and he (or was it the tree? Gabriel was having trouble separating the two of them) was in full bloom. It must have looked out of place in the strange, dead forest, and yet Gabriel couldn't find it in himself to care.

If he was going to be here for God knew how long, then he might as well look good while doing it. He doubted it would be anytime soon that his main conscious found him.

* * *

><p>Harry James Potter was a not so ordinary first year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It didn't help that he had recently been caught after hours with his friend Hermione as they were sneaking a baby dragon to the Astronomy Tower at midnight. Luckily they'd gotten the dragon away before they'd been caught but it hadn't stopped the docked points (fifty from each of them and another fifty from Neville, as he'd been caught trying to warn them). The fifty from Draco Malfoy didn't seem all that fair in the long run, as Gryffindor ended up docked one hundred and fifty points.<p>

So here they were, all four of them serving detention in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with something killing unicorns on the loose. Harry was even stuck with Draco since the blond Slytherin hadn't been able to last long before he'd taken the opportunity to scare Neville. _'I hate people like him,'_ Harry thought uncharitably as they continued following the unicorn blood through the forest.

He had never expected to come across the dying (how did he know it wasn't dead?) unicorn that had a large, black leaning over it. _'It's drinking the unicorn's blood,'_ he realized in utter horror. His stomach clench in nausea and his scar throbbed in angry pain as the figure noticed them.

He barely registered Draco's scream of horror or the fact that he'd fallen as he backed up, his ankle caught in the root of a tree. There was a humming in his head that he couldn't ignore and the unicorn killing figure seemed to become less important the louder the humming got.

The centaur showing up to drive the figure away managed to regain his attention and Harry blinked as the humming dimmed. _'The unicorn,'_ his mind whispered and Harry focused on the bright creature that lay dying.

His magic swelled inside his chest as Harry, more than anything, wanted the unicorn to be alright. His magic exploded outwards, feeling similar to when he'd found himself on the roof of his primary school building.

A sharp intake of surprise was the only thing Harry heard before he was consumed with a head-pounding dizziness that made him want to bury his head in his knees. However the rest of his body seemed to be rebelling as well as he couldn't bring himself to move his knees in the required position that would need.

Arms picked him up, feeling strangely safe, and Harry felt himself be carried out of the dark and intruding woods.

He lost consciousness not long after hearing the concerned voice of Hagrid from overhead.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know, I know, I should be updating one of my existing stories instead of posting a new one but...It was just begging to be written and the plunnie just wouldn't leave me alone! And once I had already written a certain amount on the idea, I couldn't just _not_ post it...**

**Don't kill me? I promise I'll be updating some of my other stories soon! Probably...maybe... errr... I'm a horrible person that can't make any promises because I'm easily distracted and more than a bit forgetful? **

**Read and Review? (preferably not to inform me of how horrible a person I am?) Constructive criticisms are welcome!**

**~MisteryMaiden~ **


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Harry woke the next day with a splitting headache to the all white paint of the Hospital Wings. He let out a protesting groan at the brightness of the light, eyes and head giving displeased throbs at its presence.

Madame Pomfrey hovered over him in concern as Harry let his eyes slowly adjust to the brightness; it was greatly helped by the potion that she coaxed down his throat soothingly. Finally, no longer afraid of throwing up, Harry managed to sit up to and locate his glasses, sliding them onto his face once he had them in hand.

"Alright, dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked sympathetically. "Hagrid brought you in last night with the worst case of magical exhaustion I've seen in a long time."

Harry certainly felt exhausted, that was for sure. His whole body was tingling with an aching tiredness that made him want to go back to sleep and stay that way for a week.

"You should be fine in a few days but until then, you're on strict bed-rest! You're not to be going to classes or casting any magic for at least the next week!" Her tone gave way to no argument.

"You said I'd be fine in a few days!" Harry protested. While missing classes didn't really upset him, the thought of not being able to cast magic did.

"And you will," she confirmed. "However with a magical core as young as yours, it isn't wise to cast anything until your core is without a doubt recovered, less we risk doing permanent damage to it."

The thought of permanent damage had any lingering protests filter quickly out of his head and Harry sighed, nodding in a resigned agreement.

Two hours later and he was free to go, wand confiscated for the next week to prevent any temptation. He had a sneaking suspicion that the nurse was also trying to ensure that he would come back for his checkups as well.

Ron and Hermione were in classes, leaving Harry with the option of either going back to the dorm or waiting in the Great Hall for something to do. The order to reframe from classes had been sent to all of the teachers but Harry was also given a copy, just in case he had any run-ins with Filch.

Finally deciding to just head back to the dorms, Harry was stopped by the booming voice of Hagrid.

"'Arry!" the large man boomed in the hall. "'Ere ya are! Ma'ame Pomfrey said ya'd were a'right to go?"

"Yeah," the eleven year old answered, nodding his head as well. "I was going to head back to the dorm…"

Hagrid didn't seem to take the hint that Harry was trying to get across and motioned for the small first year to follow him. "'Ere's som'on' that wan's ta meet ya!"

Curiosity piqued, Harry followed the man out onto the grounds. As they got closer to Hagrid's cottage, Harry gasped in surprise.

Standing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest was the same unicorn from the day before, watching him almost fondly as they approached. "You're alright!" Harry grinned as he forgot his tired body and sprinted forward to the waiting animal.

"'e's got ya ta thank for it!" Hagrid smiled as he came up behind the small child. "Ah couldn' believe it when Firenze told meh what 'appened! Powerful magic, that."

The unicorn nuzzled him as Harry pet the equestrian happily. "You're welcome," he said shyly, blushing as the huffing snort he received in return. "Do you have a name?"

The unicorn nipped at his hair in response, so Harry considered that a 'no'. "I'll call you Hope," he told her, suddenly sure without a doubt that the unicorn was female. The unicorn considered for a moment before ducking her head in agreement.

Harry spent hours petting Hope the unicorn perfectly happy to receive his attentions and every once in awhile, Hope would begin to nip at his hair in affection; Hagrid seemed beyond pleased to have both of them there as well. It wasn't until the sky began to darken that Harry was escorted back up to the castle by the larger man with promises of being able to come and visit Hope another day.

Harry kept quiet about his new friend to Ron and Hermione as a voice in his head said that Hope wouldn't appreciate the two cutting into their time. Like the other things Harry had found himself just knowing, Harry didn't question the knowledge.

He had made another friend to add to his short list and that was well worth the discomfort that he would have to endure.

* * *

><p>It was just before exams, maybe the week before, when Harry was nudged by his unicorn friend into the Forbidden Forest.<p>

He'd gone in there twice since he had used accidental magic to heal Hope after Voldemort had attacked her. The centaurs seemed to be neutral to his presence in the forest and Harry had enjoyed exploring it with Hope to keep him company and Hagrid by his side. It was during one of these few times that Firenze had spoken to him again and Harry had learned who it was that had attacked Hope in the first place. Said unicorn had seemed displeased at the identification of her attacker and the reason that she was attacked in the first place.

Yet Hagrid wasn't here this time, too busy cleaning up other parts of the grounds to be supervising his visits with Hope. "We need to wait for Hagrid," he told the impatient unicorn.

Hope gave an irritated snort and began forcibly pushing him towards the forest, her horn going easily under his arm as to not hurt him. Harry frowned at her. "You don't want Hagrid to be there?" he asked in confusion.

Hope gave a pleased huff and pushed him towards the forest once more. Harry relented and began walking on his own, letting her lead him into the thick trees that created the border of the forest.

Most of the Forbidden Forest was made of dead or dying trees and seemed to be dark and depressing at first sight. That in itself made it shocking to find that as he and Hope roamed deeper into the forest woods, the trees and plants seemed to become brighter and more lively than they were in the first ring of trees.

There were more animals the father they went in as well. Unicorns of all sizes seemed to be roaming the woods peacefully, only giving him a questioning look before going back to their grazing. A few centaurs gave them acknowledging nods as they walked passed and soon Harry was greeted with the sight of all sorts of animals.

Looking around him, Harry could understand where Hagrid's fascination with magical animals came from. Unicorns, Pegasi, centaurs, and what looked liked nymphs were all present in the deepest depths of the Forbidden Forest.

Finally, Hope came to the stop before a large clearing inside a circle of thriving trees. Harry blinked at the awe inspiring image it made and couldn't help but take a closer look at all of the details the clearing held.

The grass was greener than he'd ever seen grass and it was as tall as he was. Large patches of flowers where mingled in with the grass and Harry swore that he saw a doe grazing on the opposite side of the clearing.

What really caught his attention, though, was the giant tree that stood proudly in the middle of it all. "Oh," Harry breathed and took in the glowing green leaves and the shining bark of the tree. A distinct humming began in his head.

Hope nudged him into the clearing gently, Harry not protesting as the tree kept most of his attention. She whinnied softly before taking a few steps back until she had returned to the edge of the clearing.

At any other time, Harry would have found this odd. In another place, perhaps it would have even concerned him. Now, right here and in front of this tree, Harry could only hear a welcoming hum and feel the crackles of a power that felt so familiar to him that it was almost like coming home. He took a few steps closer to the tree, his feet seeming to move on their own.

As he grew closer to it, the tree seemed to shudder in greeting. In the corner of his eyes, he could see the unicorns, pegasi, and centaurs they had passed before gather in the circle of trees the surrounded the giant middle tree. They all seemed to be watching his approach to the tree with anticipation. For some reason, Harry felt a spark of pride and confidence (of course they should!) at that thought.

Unlike when he felt the need to mouth off to his relatives or to fight back when Snape gained up on him, Harry didn't fight the thoughts down. It was a confidence that he'd never felt before and unlike when he would certainly be facing punishment Harry didn't feel the overwhelming fear which usually came afterwards; the certainty that this was the last time he would be able to get away with such a remark.

The tree rustled above his head. When had he gotten so close to it? Harry didn't bother to try and remember, hand reaching out to touch the welcoming bark.

_Skin on bark._

_ Light filling the clearing, blinding and welcoming._

_Power and memories, centuries of knowledge filling in gaps that he hadn't noticed before._

_:Whole; he was complete._

_ Wings stretching out of unused, unnoticed, muscles._

_Names, so many and spread so far. Two at the front, ringing in his head._

_He was Harry, eleven years old and orphan. Wizard and Boy-Who-Lived._

_ He was Gabriel, older than the universes themselves and Archangel. The Messenger, Archangel of Judgment._

_They lifted their head back and screamed._

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><p><strong>AN: You don't want to kill the author...you don't want to kill the author...**

**Is it working?**

**Remember! Review make authors happy!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Fallen Angels were rare.

It wasn't because there weren't many angel's that wanted to know what it was like to be human, wanted the choices that Free Will would grant them. It was because of the simple fact that if an angel Fell, there wasn't any guarantee that they would survive the experience and if they did? If they managed to successfully become human and live a human life? Well, after a while they would eventually find their Grace, reclaim their memories and return to the Host.

Or die as the Grace, everything they once were, ate them from the inside out. It really wasn't any surprise that not many angels took that chance.

Now Gabriel hadn't Fallen, in the strictest sense; he hadn't willingly ripped out his Grace and become human. Gabriel had died after having his own sword shoved through his gut.

So when the process of regaining his Grace didn't go exactly as it _should have_, Gabriel really couldn't find it in himself to be surprised.

His current situation was odd; he was Gabriel but he wasn't. Not completely, anyways, and not in the way that he had been before. He also had the misfortune to find himself stuck in the back of his own mind, not really completely apart of his human soul but slowly getting there.

When Harry's _(their)_ hand had touched the tree and the flood of memories had consumed them both, Gabriel had been disappointed to note that their reintegration into one being hadn't gone as planned. They were Harry and they were Gabriel but they were also neither. Sure, his Grace had filled his human body but that was it. They weren't one in the same yet, weren't completely merged with one another.

Their Grace, once settled, sat unmoving in the core of their human body and what was left of Gabriel's consciousness was left sitting in the back of his human counterpart's mind with nothing but white walls to great him.

There had been a hint of something else there when he had first arrived; a dark shadowed corner that reminded him of the most twisted demons residing in Hell but his Grace had easily destroyed whatever it was and Gabriel had been by his lonesome ever since.

Quite frankly, he was bored.

He was also hopeful. He could feel his Grace mixing slowly with his human soul, easing them together in a way that would hopefully keep from destroying them as it had angels in the past. Gabriel really didn't want to re-experience dying again anytime soon, thank you.

That unfortunately meant that he would have to be content in waiting for the process to complete itself at its current rate and Gabriel let out the most frustrate sigh as he could.

This was going to take a while.

* * *

><p>Harry was reluctant to board the train home, when the time came. Hogwarts had quickly become his home and Hope had become one of his closest friends. He didn't want to leave Hagrid behind, either and though Ron and Hermione would be on the train with him, he was dreading the moment he would have to say goodbye when they arrived at the station.<p>

He was also anxious about something and could feel a strange itch of excitement beneath his skin. The feeling confused him and had been confusing him for weeks now. It was ever present and it constantly nagged at the back of his head. Trying to originate the origin of the feeling was nearly impossible as it felt as if it had always been there but was only now making itself known.

He'd first noticed it after he'd woken up in a meadow with Hope, deep into the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid had found them there sleeping next to the most beautiful and green tree in the entire forest. For the life of him, Harry couldn't remember having gotten there or what had caused him to fall asleep in the first place but as Hope hadn't seemed to worried, he let the nagging feeling of having _forgotten_ something fade as the days passed.

Voldemort had been a suitable distraction in that area as well.

The not so dead Dark Lord was another area of confusion for the preteen. Quirrell had been unable to touch him, his hands burning whenever he tried and though Dumbledore's explanation made his stomach flutter, somehow Harry doubted that it was a result of something his mother had done when he was only a baby. After all, how many times had Dudley and his friends managed to chase him down and beat him? How had the jinx that Quirrell had attempted worked if he was protected?

It just didn't add up.

"Come on Harry! The train's about to leave!" Ron called pulling Harry from his thoughts of what had happened only a mere few days ago.

Giving one last look at the castle, the only place that he'd ever felt at home, Harry boarded the train for home, already counting down the days until he would be able to come back.

* * *

><p>A pale and rather gaunt looking man watched the train leave with a frown. He, just like every other being sensitive to such things, had felt the explosion of power that had shaken the cosmos itself.<p>

However, the human that was at the center of the explosion looked, at first glance, like every other human that was walking about the small station.

Yet, if he looked closely enough, he could see the pale outline of three magnificent pairs of wings before they would blink out of existence once more, as if they'd never been there. In all of his years, the pale man had never seen anything like this before and that he was seeing it now was both interesting and more alarming than he would care to admit.

"What are You up too?" he murmured as he looked up at the sky above. While he knew that the being he was addressing wasn't there, the pale rider could almost imagine the smug radiance that would emit from His form as he looked past blue sky and bright stars into another dimension entirely.

With one last look at the human that was the fourth, and the youngest, Archangel Death turned from the station and began to walk away.

He still had much work to do.

And maybe, just maybe, a couple of humans to speak to.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So this was supposed to be uploaded along with the first two chapters but my internet connection cut off right after I posted the second chapter. Also, it's only half working properly and some websites aren't loading all the way (fanfiction is fine and so is google but ao3 and youtube aren't a option...go figure.)**

**Do to the fact that he was dead and didn't Fall, Gabriel's reintegration with his human soul (Harry) is different than what it was in Supernatural. I always wondered about the Fallen Angels of Supernatural and eventually came up for an explanation as to why becoming human wasn't common (I mean, seriously, only Anael out of the entirety of Heaven Fell and regained her Grace? Really? I was just like 'there has to be a reason for that' and well, I came up with one. Falling is risky and usually ends in death either during the process or while regaining your Grace. That's my explanation. I'll also be diving a bit further into the concept later in the story.**

**So Harry's still Harry but not! I bet those of you that have managed to read this before I got internet again didn't see that coming! Hah! This was my solution to not having Gabriel!Harry all powerful because really, that's just boring. I also didn't want to take Voldemort out of the picture just yet and Gabe would just smote him immediately if he had completely overtaken Harry.**

**Just a warning to you, the Harry Potter 'verse in this is going to be a mix of the movies and books. Yeah the two are really close but there are some key differences in certain scenes in both that would work better in this, an example of which is going to appear in the next chapter. For those of you who think that I should only use one or the other, well, tough because some parts of the book just don't work as well in what I have planned than the movie would. I figure I should warn you all now before you get pissy at me later.**

**Also, yeah. Death made an appearance at the end there but did you all really think that no one would feel Gabriel's Grace flaring out like that at the end of the last chapter? Bah. Also, no, there haven't been any other dead angel's finding and regaining their Grace yet. Gabe's the first but don't worry, he definitely won't be the last! :D**

**Feel free to ask any questions in the review and I'll try and answer as best I can (without spoiling anything, of course). You're all amazing because I seriously wasn't expecting the reaction this got. I get internet back and all of a sudden my inbox is full of follows and favorites...yeesh. Thanks to those that have already reviewed!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The summer holidays were just as Harry remembered them; filled with long, hot days and plenty of manual labor.

After a year of magic and the occasional danger, Harry found the atmosphere of Number Four Privet Drive to be more than a little boring. Not even Dudley and his gang gave him the same worries as they once had, not after facing Voldemort himself and coming out alive. Harry just couldn't really take two or three small humans seriously…

Where had that thought come from? Harry wondered with a frown. Sure, Dudley wasn't nearly as scary as the man (_thing,_ came a derisive voice in the back of his head) that had killed his parents and wouldn't hesitate to kill him and yeah, neither Piers nor Denis were all that scary anymore either but, well, it wasn't like he was anything special. They were all kids, right?

"Oi!" Speaking of Dudley… "Freak, mum says that you better get a move on with weeding or you won't be getting any supper!"

Harry sighed and shook his head in a useless effort to clear it. Getting lost in thought was dangerous if he wanted to get done quickly enough. He'd already gone with breakfast and lunch and his stomach was protesting the rough treatment after months of having as much food as he wanted available. It wouldn't do to loss the weight that he'd gained from his stay at Hogwarts.

Digging his hands into the soil, Harry couldn't help but wonder about his friends. Hagrid had promised to write updates on Hope all summer and Ron and Hermione had told him that they'd write as much as they could. Yet, Harry hadn't received a letter once during the month and a half that summer had been going.

Just the year before, Harry would have taken this as a sign that he had over thought their friendship. He would have thought that maybe he wasn't that important to them after all. Now though something seemed off when he thought about their promise and the lack of letters. It just didn't seem like them to ignore him.

With another sigh, Harry finished up the weeding and moved to the shed. He still needed to repaint the fence before he could move onto his inside chores.

* * *

><p>It was worth the Dursley's throwing a party downstairs and forgetting his birthday (<em>as if they'd ever bothered to remember it,<em> that snide voice that Harry wasn't sure was his said) and being locked in his room just for the reprieve from chores that if gave him. Sure, Harry knew that he would be back to work once more tomorrow but being allowed to immediately go upstairs for the night and do whatever he wanted without having to worry about time constraints? That was worth the work load he would be getting tomorrow to 'make up for lost time', as his uncle liked to say.

It would have been more worth it if there wasn't a strange…something sitting on his bed. With bat-like ears and stunningly large round green eyes, Harry couldn't decide if it was adorable or the ugliest thing he'd ever seen. So ugly it was adorable maybe? Harry shook his head, dislodging that rather rude thoughts (where had they even come from, he wondered) and focused on the staring creature. "Err-Hello?"

"Harry Potter!" the creature said in a high pitched voice that made him want to both wince and, irrationally, hug it. Where are these strange thoughts coming from? He wondered as he stamped down on that urge. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you sir…Such an honor it is…"

"T-thank you?" Harry's voice trailed in a questioning tilt at the end. Because really, how often was it that strange creatures decided to break into your house only to fanboy at someone…wait what? Harry blinked and frowned at the thought. Just what was a fanboy? "Who are you?" Harry asked politely. Well, more politely than 'What are you?' would be.

"Dobby, sir. Dobby the house-elf," the newly named Dobby said.

"Oh," Harry said as he studied the pillowcase that the house-elf was wearing. Were pillowcases normal clothing for house-elves? He wondered. "Not to be rude or anything," he added as the voices of two unfamiliar people came from downstairs. "But this isn't the best time for a house-elf to be in my room."

He was horrified as Dobby's head bowed and the glisten of tears could be seen at the edges of his eyes. (_Definitely adorable,_ a voice said in his head). "Not that it isn't wonderful to meet you!" Harry assured hurriedly. "But…is there something that you needed?"

"Oh yes sir," Dobby said earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you sir…it is difficult, sir…Dobby wonders where to begin…"

"The beginning, maybe?" Harry suggested and was rewarded with wide eyes. He froze at the wide eyes and blushed at the look of awe in them. "It's just," he stuttered as his cheeks heated. "Wouldn't that make the most sense? Um, that's the way stories are usually told, right?"

"Dobby heard tell," the elf began slowly, looking more awe-inspired than before, "that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time, just weeks ago…that Harry Potter escaped _again._"

How had he heard that? Harry wondered as his blush increased and he nodded in confirmation. He was once again horrified as the little elf's eyes filled with tears once more. "Ah," Dobby said, dabbing his eyes. "Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he _does_ have to punish himself later…_Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts._"

Harry stared, stunned. Even that snide voice that made comments in the back of his head (my conscience maybe?) was silent and Dobby just looked back at him earnestly from his spot next to Harry's bed.

"W-what?" Harry stammered after another moment. "But I've got to go back! Term is only just a few more weeks away! You don't know what it's like here…I don't belong here! I belong at Hogwarts!"

Hogwarts, where he met his first friends, met Hope and talked with Hagrid and was able to eat as much as he wanted! Where Ron and Hermione were and the castle felt like home and hummed against his skin! He couldn't _not_ go back!

"No, no, no," Dobby said, his ears flapping as he shook his head. "Harry Potter must stay here where he is safe! He is much too important and good to lose! If Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger!"

"Why?" Harry asked, surprised. Surely Voldemort wouldn't be back again after last year!

"There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," Dobby whispered, trembling suddenly.

"What terrible things? Who's plotting them?" Harry asked, suddenly suspicious. Why would a house-elf come warn _him_ of these things? Why not go to Dumbledore?

Dobby frantically shook his head, suddenly hitting himself with his small hands. "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" Harry started in alarm and moved to stop the house-elf before he drew the attention of the Dursley's.

"It's not Voldemort, is it?" Harry asked in effort to regain the elf's attention. Dobby stopped hitting himself to shriek instead.

"Not the name, sir! Never the name!" the house-elf wailed loudly. He heard the voices from downstairs hush and quickly covered Dobby's mouth with his hand.

"Shh! You'll upset uncle Vernon!" he whispered harshly, his stomach churning in fear of what his uncle would do should he come up here and find them. "I won't say it again, please, just be quiet!"

Dobby hushed and nodded. Harry removed his hand in relief as the elf began to speak again, this time his voice quieter than before. "N-not _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_, sir."

The elf was being completely unhelpful and nothing else he said was making any sense to Harry's growing annoyance. It seemed that Dobby was trying to do his utmost best to both warn and convince him not to return to Hogwarts, something that was definitely not going to happen. Like he was going to stay here? He'd rather face Voldemort again.

Eventually, Vernon made an appearance and Harry was only just able to hide Dobby from the man before the argument continued.

Well, at least until something the elf said caught his attention.

"How do _you_ know that my friends haven't been writing me?" He demanded after cutting himself off from his initial response. Dobby shifted in discomfort before bring out a stack of letters.

It escalated from there and ended with Dobby escaping the room and dumping pudding onto Mr. and Mrs. Mason. The look of their faces when the owl burst in with the notice from the Ministry only darkened the already purple face of his uncle that much more.

_'__At least he forgot about my trunk,'_ Harry thought as he watched bars being added to the outside of his window the next day. He didn't know how the rather large item had been overlooked but at least he'd be able to get his homework done now that his days were freed and he'd nothing else to do.

* * *

><p>Meeting the House-elf had answered a lot of the questions that Harry had had about his lack of letters and contact from his friends. The rather large stack of letters also answered just how many times that they had written to him and for some reason, his stomach clenched in anger that while he had thought he had been forgotten, Ron and Hermione must have thought he didn't care enough to respond to him.<p>

Knowing Hermione, his lack of response had most likely worried her and Ron was probably beginning to think that he wasn't good enough for Harry to respond to.

So after three days locked in his room after Dobby's visit, Harry was beyond surprised to see a flying car outside his window with three familiar redheads inside.

"Ron?!" He whispered in shock. "Fred? George?"

"Hiya Harry," Ron said, grinning brightly at him from the back of the blue flying Ford Angelia.

As Harry rushed around the room packing up his trunk, Ron explained that he had been worried after Harry hadn't responded to any of his letters and that after hearing about the warning that Harry had gotten from the ministry for miss-use of magic from their dad, Ron had convinced Fred and George to help with a rescue mission. All three were eyeing the bars on his window with distaste, not that Harry could really blame them.

"Stand back," Ron told him as Harry grabbed his trunk and Hedwig's cage in preparation to leave as quickly as possible. Going by the size of the hook and the fact that it was tied to the end of the car, Harry knew that the noise of bars being ripped off the side of the house would definitely wake up his family and he wanted to be already gone before his uncle managed to get the door to his bedroom open.

Sure enough, Harry heard his uncle give a startled shout from the master bedroom a few rooms over and the large thump the signified that Dudley had been startled into rolling off the bed. Harry ignored the thundering approach of his uncle's footstep (_Has this guy never heard of a diet?_ A voice wondered in the back of his mind) and handed over Hedwig and them his trunk to Ron before making a move to get into the car himself.

By the time he'd gotten both feet inside the car door, Harry was pleased to hear his uncle had only just managed to get the padlocks on the outside of Harry's bedroom door open. The look of pure rage on Vernon Dursley's face, purple and looking rather likely to explode, had Harry and the three Weasley's laughing all the way back to their home.

Telling the listening redhead's about Dobby hadn't gotten the reaction that Harry might have expected. Ron was convinced it was Malfoy and Fred and George were inclined to agree with him. Harry wasn't as convinced.

The way Dobby warned him struck him as odd. From what he could gather from listening to Ron and the Twins talk, house-elves had to obey their orders which were given to them by their Master yet it almost seemed as if Dobby had been avoiding saying certain things, like he couldn't say it outright.

No, he told himself firmly. You're over thinking this. It was just some stupid ploy to get you to stay away from Hogwarts this year.

Somehow, the words rang empty in his head.

"Don't worry mate," Ron assured him from the seat next to his. Hedwig's cage sat empty between them, the owl happily flying next to the car after weeks of being confined. For some reason, Harry itched to be next to her but the idea of being on a broom didn't sit well in the pit of his stomach. "Malfoy isn't going to try something like that again. I bet he'll be real surprised when you show up at the beginning of the year, too! Just imagine the look on his face!"

It was a bit funny, Harry thought as he imagine the furious and embarrassed look that would twist Malfoy's aristocratic features of the blonde's face. Harry allowed himself to giggle at the thought which soon turned into full blown laughter between himself and Ron.

All previous thoughts were completely forgotten as Harry looked out the windshield of the car to catch his first view of the Burrow. The house was an odd structure that seemed to be holding itself together on nothing as it was stacked together in a rather unstable looking way.

That wasn't what took his breath away, however. The house seemed to shimmer and glow against the sunrise and every once in awhile, the glow would flicker and become an entirely different color. It was like watching a rainbow in river form and Harry never wanted to take his eyes off it again. "Awesome," he breathed much to Ron's delight. The twins grinned at him as Fred lowered the car onto the front lawn.

They had arrived.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So I am officially sleep deprived but at least you all got a new chapter so soon after the last one, yeah? And it's only...holy crap, it's already 5:30?! Um...oops?**

**Yeah...I'm going to go pass out because I have to actually get up tomorrow...or is that today? Meh, either way...**

**Goodnight! Hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Harry's second impression (the first being at Platform Nine and Three Quarters) of Molly Weasley was that he never, ever wanted to be on the receiving end of her anger for as long as he lived. Harry watched with wide eyes as Ron and the Twins seemed to shrink in on themselves as their mother tore them a new one.

"You could have been killed!" She shrieked at them angrily, seemingly either not realizing or caring that she'd already said about three different variations of the same thing. Finally she turned to Harry, who took a step back as the attention was suddenly on him.

"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry dear," she said kindly. "Come in and have some breakfast."

The sudden shift from raging to easy smiles honestly concerned Harry for a moment as he fought not to gape at the redheaded woman's back. He turned to look at Ron for instruction and his equally redheaded friend just shrugged and grinned at him.

Harry wondered at the sanity of his friend's family as he moved to enter the Burrow for the first time, the shimmering light around it seeming to dance in welcome. Not that he wasn't grateful for the rescue, because he really was, but who in their right minds would knowingly do something that would make this woman angry? No one in their right minds, that who.

The inside of the Burrow was probably more beautiful that the outside. The walls glowed around them and each object seemed to radiate a different glow inside the rather crapped room that was obviously the kitchen. Harry could barely keep himself from asking about all the different items and just stared at them all instead. The whole house seemed to be welcoming him at once and Harry felt the insane urge to greet it.

Which was odd because how did you greet a house?

Mrs. Weasley was moving around the kitchen like a pro, cooking breakfast while as continuing to scold her children. Fred and George were both shifting uncomfortably in their seats while Ron looked more than a tad embarrassed at the continuation of his mother's ire. Harry rather doubted that he'd ever been in this much trouble with the stern woman before.

"I don't blame you dear," she assured him as she began piling food on his plate. The smell of the sausages and eggs made his mouth water and Harry was forced to fight down shock as Mrs. Weasley began buttering his toast for him.

Fred and George were pleading their case but the twelve year old could already tell their mother didn't believe their claims of starvation and cloud cover. Harry wasn't sure whether or not he was grateful for this; on one hand he didn't have to explain his relative's treatment of him yet on the other hand, Harry would be forced to go back next summer as well…

His thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a small redheaded girl who promptly entered the kitchen, squealed, and disappeared. Harry stared at the spot she'd been in with shock.

"Ginny," Ron explained. "She's been talking about you all summer. Reckon she wants your autograph."

Harry looked at him blankly as he registered the information. Ron's little sister had a _crush_ on him?

That thought was also interrupted by the entrance of another Weasley. As Mrs. Weasley began lecturing Mr. Weasley, Harry had to fight to keep from laughing as the patriarch of the family seemed to become more and more flustered by the second.

It was the best breakfast that Harry had ever had.

* * *

><p>The days spent at the Burrow were quickly becoming Harry's best memories to date. The Weasley family was beyond welcoming to him and Harry couldn't have been more grateful to the hospitality that they were showing. Ron had even cleared him a space in his room, much to Harry's delight. The Twins seemed to have made it their personal mission to teach him the art of mischief making (Ron included, of course) and many of their antics had Harry laughing hours later.<p>

Ginny was still too shy to talk to him but Harry still managed to get in a few words to the girl before she became flustered enough to flee the room. It was a slow progress but the approving looks from all of her siblings made it worth it, not to mention the few times that Harry managed to hide his presence from her, Ginny proved to have a wicked tongue when upset with her older brothers.

Percy had also finally managed to come out of his room a few days into Harry's stay. It didn't take long to understand that Percy and the Twins were the exact opposite of each other and decidedly did not get along because of it and something in Harry protested vehemently at the fighting the three did until two week before school started, Harry snapped.

In hindsight, it also probably would have been better if he hadn't used watered down flour on them, seeing as the Twins took the opportunity to hug the laughing observers and spread the mess. However the look on their faces at the Thing One and Thing Two signs that Harry had glued to their backs had been worth it. Percy had gotten his own sign that read: Super Genius Prefect, cross at your own peril.

It was obvious to everyone who had done it. Ron had never even tried pranking his brothers before and Ginny was too busy hiding from Harry most of the time to become fed up with the arguing. Mr. Weasley spent a good two days laughing every time one of the twins found flour in a new place on themselves while Mrs. Weasley tried her best to be stern but was caught giggling when she thought no one was listening.

The Twins, however, weren't about to let the prank go (and were thrilled that someone had actually pranked them) and enlisted a surprised Percy for revenge. Harry could tell that Percy fully knew what Harry had done but never said a word as a prank war ensued.

By the time the prank war had trickled down until it was only left over pranks that had yet to be set off claiming victims. When the Hogwarts letter arrived, the children of the Burrow weren't sure who was more pleased; them for returning to Hogwarts or Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for the break that the new school year would provide.

* * *

><p>It was lucky, Harry thought as he looked around Diagon Ally, that Ron had remembered in time that Harry had never used the Floo System before. Instead of having him learn by experience and probably end up lost somewhere along the way, Mrs. Weasley had sent all her children along and had stepped in with him into the fireplace so he could learn by example instead.<p>

Considering the many different ways it could have gone had Ron not pointed out the dangers (bless his redheaded friend) Harry found that being spit out into the Leaky Cauldron, covered in soot and hitting the wall of the pub was the least of what could have happened.

Looking up at eight concerned faces of seven redheads and one barkeeper, Harry knew that it probably wasn't a normal occurrence to have people being spit out like that. The fact that Mrs. Weasley, who had been with him, was completely soot free and fine Harry decided that the Floo System just hated him and also reached the conclusion that it was a mutual feeling.

"Alright, lad?" Tom asked as he helped the downed second year up. The rest of the bar was looking over at them in surprise as well. "Never seen the Floo do that to someone before," the barkeeper commented in amusement. "Best stick to Apparition and portkeys, I'd say. The Floo ain't something you want to mess with if it's already spitting you out like that."

"Thanks," Harry said as he accepted the hand up. The painful throb of his back and legs was ignored in favor of his aching head. The twelve year old brought one hand up to his temple, wincing as it throbbed one more time.

Tom gave him a sympathetic look and motioned for him to follow as the barkeeper turned back towards that bar. "A headache potion won't be amiss, ay lad?"

Harry gave a grateful nod as he was sat down at the bar and handed an open potion vial. Closing his eyes and bracing himself, Harry downed the rather nasty concoction in one gulp. His headache immediately began to fade and he gave a sigh of relief. "Thank Tom," he thanked the man.

"No problem," the barkeep assured him. "I keep those on hand for occasions just like this. You'd be surprised how many drunken wizards come crashing from the Floo after they slur out the wrong name." Tom winked at him as one of the current costumers let out an embarrassed grunt at the comment not too far from them.

They made their way to Gringotts from there. The white stone building was just like Harry remembered it except for the nearly blinding white aura that surrounded the place. Harry blinked as he walked up to the building and the aura flickered out towards him in welcome, similar to how the Burrow had responded to him when he had first arrived. The goblin that was standing guard glanced at him in shock, seemingly also able to see the aura around the bank.

Harry was about to ask the goblin about the strange occurrence but Mrs. Weasley had already begun pushing him forward inside the large building that was looming over them.

"Come along, dear," Mrs. Weasley said as he was pushed into the waiting building. "It's best that we get as much done as quickly as we can."

Yet it wasn't to be. As soon as Harry came up to the desk after the Weasley's had moved to the cart to wait for him, the teller goblin gave him and the key an incredulous stare before clearing his voice. "It would be to the benefit of Gringotts to have you meet with the Potter Family Account Manager," the teller said croakily. Harry stared at the goblin (was it as he or a she?) in shock.

"What about the Weasley's?" he asked, worrying his bottom lip. "I can't just disappear without them knowing!"

The goblin gave him a considering look before it nodded as it reached a decision. "Stonefist will inform the Weasley family of your whereabouts, Mr. Potter. It would be in all of our best interests for you and the Potter Account Manager to meet now instead of later." It looked grudgingly unhappy to admit that but motioned for Harry to follow all the same.

Harry honestly wouldn't have been able to find the Account Manager's office on his own, even if he had been given a map and was only a few feet away from the office door. The entire interior of the bank was just as bright and headache inducing as the outside and his glances gave off a strange glare as he attempted to make out any distinguishing features that would allow him to figure out where he was.

"Mr. Potter is here to see you, Account Manager Griphook," the teller goblin said to a door. Before Harry could wonder about that, said door swung open and he was nearly shoved inside before the teller turned and made his way back down to the main lobby.

"Mr. Potter," a goblin that Harry remembered was Griphook, the goblin that had taken him down to his vault the year before. "I was not expecting you to..." Griphook trailed off and began looking all that more closely at him.

Harry blinked as the goblin's face twisted into a parody of a sneer and a wince. "This is unexpected," the goblin muttered to himself as he looked Harry over. "Yet I do not see enough of a presence that I should. Tell me, Mr. Potter, have you experienced anything strange lately."

Harry looked at the goblin, about to shake his head 'no', when he paused. Strange? Well, he had been feeling off since he had awoken in that clearing with Hope. That voice that sometimes commented had also appeared around that time...why couldn't he remember going to that clearing?

"I will assume from the way you are hesitating that the answer to my question is 'yes'." Griphook sneered at him. "Yet you display no signs of possession or physical changes. So the question remains as to what, exactly, has changed in you."

"Changed?" Harry finally asked, his head throbbing painfully as the voice made itself known once more. (_'Regained,'_ it whispered. _'We've regained.'_) 'Regained what?' Harry wondered but there was no answer to his question to be found. "I don't know," he admitted to the waiting goblin.

"Situations like this are uncommon but not unheard of," Griphook sneered at him as he spoke. Harry was beginning to think that sneering was the default expression of goblins considering how many of them did it. "In the interests of keeping the integrity of our bank, we have devised ritual which will detect any malicious changes in a client or bring out any secondary parties that may be...'hitching a ride' as it were." The goblin focused completely on him. "Whether or not you take this ritual will decided on any and all access to accounts held under your name. Choose wisely."

Harry thought it over. The Dursley's (_'bastards,'_ the voice said) wouldn't lift a finger to help pay for his school stuff but Harry wasn't shallow enough to think that money was worth potentially dangerous rituals (How do I know their dangerous? He didn't say they were...). No, Harry was far more curious to find out why he could see things that he couldn't before and what the goblins saw when looking at him that made him so different from the year before. "Okay," he consented.

The goblin snarled a smirk at him (which was weird) and ran a claw over the desk to retrieve a vial of something. "Drink," Griphook ordered after throwing the vial at him. "Then I will begin."

Harry drank and Griphook began chanting. The words were gnarled and had sounds that Harry had never heard before yet as he listened, it was almost like their meanings came to him. It wasn't that the words translated into English or that he heard English as the goblin spoke but like he knew the language enough to just know what was being said, no need for translations.

The walls around them pulsed with power and seemed to suddenly engulf him. It was searing hot and Harry nearly screamed as something within him answered the pulsing call.

The world burned around them and Harry saw only white.

* * *

><p>Gabriel looked at the skinny boy before him. He'd been sitting here in the white landscape that he was aloud, catching the occasional glimpse outside, when his Grace has pulsed and the boy had appeared here.<p>

"So you're what we look like now?" He asked aloud, taking in all the features that their main consciousness held. He, himself, did not have a form in the area where Grace met Soul. He was only their memories, after all, and until recently he had not had reason for distinguishing himself from their main conscious. It was odd enough to be aware that he was not what memory dictated him to be. Or even a 'him' really.

"Who are you?" their voice was strained and decidedly young in origin. Prepuberty, if Gabriel was taking a guess. Whatever had caused the pulse of their Grace had wanted them to meet.

"I'm you," he said easily. "And you are me."

"That doesn't make any sense!" the boy told him in irritation before surprise took over his features. "I didn't mean to say that..."

"The mind is not voice," Gabriel told him. "It's thought. What you think and what I think are what we here because while thoughts can be quiet in the outside, they are loud in the mind."

Harry, for that was what his current human name was, looked lost at the explanation and Gabriel didn't blame him for it. It was hard for a human mind to know all of its secrets and while they were slowly becoming one being again, Harry was still separated from him.

"What are you doing here?" they tried asking again. Gabriel frowned at their counterpart. Shouldn't he already know?

"I am you," he said again but this time, elaborated. "We were killed t and had separated from each other when reborn as a human. I am your memories and what you once were and will soon become again. We seem to be slowly reuniting and as we absorb one another, and as we do so our abilities will return to us."

Harry looked intrigued. "You're the voice," they said in shock. "The one that comments on things in my head."

"Our head," he corrected.

"Do you...er, we, have a name?" the boy wondered.

"We are Gabriel." Gabriel told him. "But we are also Harry, Ivan, Yvonne, Lu, Choa Xi, and many more." They had been born in so many different places, times, and genders that they had many names to choose from now, other than Loki, that is. "We have been reborn many times." Gabriel explained when he sensed the on-coming question.

"Oh," Harry blinked. "Why can't I see you?"

"I am you," Gabriel repeated again, getting frustrated at his own lack of understanding. Existing apart from himself was beginning to grate on his nerves. "I don't need a form because your form would also be mine and we are in our mind."

Harry gave a large sigh. "This is weird," they said in annoyance.

"Tell me about," Gabriel said, letting his earlier patience go in favor of actual conversation. "I wasn't even a separate being before and suddenly I have conscious thought because you aren't yet completely us."

"When will I be completely us again?" Harry felt the need to ask as he could feel excitment stirring from around him and inside him. Being in his head was strange.

"I don't know," Gabriel admitted. "But I would estimate based on the rate that we're going, we'll be one being again by the time you reach twenty, maybe sooner if something excelerates the rate."

Harry nodded and began fading away. "Will I be able to talk to you...us?" he paused. "Us again?"

"Whenever you want," Gabriel assured him. "I'm you, remember? I already speak to you, all you need to do in listen."

Harry was completely gone now and Gabriel was back to a pure white surrounding. The difference from before, however, was that he was more aware of both himself and his human mind than he was before.

'I wonder,' Gabriel thought as he received memories of how they had gotten here. 'If this means we're insane. Talking to yourself is supposed to be the first sign of it...'

Oh well.

* * *

><p>Griphook was standing over him, looking as concerned as he'd ever seen a goblin look. "You are awake?" That was also nicer than he expected but from the uncertainty flickering accross the goblins face, Harry thought that it had something to do with what the goblins were seeing when looking at him.<p>

"That was weird," he told the goblin, his usual thought to mouth filter seeming to have disappeared.

Griphook looked at him expectantly.

"I met myself," he told the goblin and gained the most incredulous look he'd ever seen. "He said that we'd been separated after we died before we were reborn. I think he, er, I am confused as to why we're still separate but we think it's a good thing?" Harry cocked his head to the side as he searched for Gabriel in his head and got a confirmation. "It's a good thing because if it went the normal way, we might have died."

"This is...unexpected." Griphook informed him as he moved back to behind his desk. "The aura that surrounds you is pure white and radiates power; much different form a human aura and why we were forced to make sure that you were still yourself before we allowed access to your accounts. Does your split fragment have a name?"

Harry considered the goblin and felt Gabriel doing the same in the back of their mind. Now that he knew Gabriel was there, he could easily feel the disjointed fragment of himself there. It was like he'd been searching for a needle in a haystack and suddenly knew exactly where to find it; basically it made his head hurt trying to think about it. _'Tell him,'_ Gabriel whispered in their head._ 'He should know who he crosses if he betrays our secret.'_

"Gabriel," Harry spoke the name aloud for the first time and felt the rightness that the name gave him. "Our name is Gabriel."

* * *

><p><strong>So Harry meets Gabriel, who is Harry but isn't Harry. Let me tell you, even <em>my<em> head hurt after writing this because really, talking to yourself was never meant to be quite so literal. Gabriel is also a little...nicer in the beginning of his and Harry's interactions but that's more because he isn't really _Gabriel_ but Gabriel's _memories. _Harry is the one that's Gabriel and he'll begin acting redeveloping that personality that we all love soon enough, expect since he's spent so long as a human, he'll probably be less Trickster than he was when he was pretending to be Loki. Tamer but not too much.**

**For those who'll probably be like 'He told the Goblins? What?': Of course he did! The whole point of that was for the Goblins to find out if Harry was a risk to the Potter wealth, and therefore the integrity of Gringotts. They could see that he wasn't human but they've no idea what he is. It isn't like he shout I'm an Archangel a the top of his lungs, especially since Harry doesn't even really know what he is yet. He was a bit distracted by the whole voice in his head that's not actually a voice but his memories given consciousness after being split apart from him when he was killed. 'Gabriel' also starts acting more like canon at the end as this is the first time since he's been given conscioussness that he's had to interact with Harry. He'll be more in character in their conversations from now on. **

**Comments, questions, and just plain reviews welcome! I really want to know what you all think of this story!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	6. Chapter 5

**Oh, wow. 54 favorites and 69 followers already? Yeesh...**

**To those that have reviewed: thank you for the imput! You're all wonderful! For the 44 and 59 that either favorited, followed, or both, this story...why no review? Reviews make authors happy and happy authors write more! (Blatantly ignores the fact that I have posted four chapters already since this came out).**

**Ignoring my rather obvious attempt to get more reviews...onto the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

Platform Nine and Three Quarters had both changed and not changed. With is new ability to see the energy of the world (including magic, apparently) that had resurfaced since finding Gabriel (who Harry refused to refer to as 'himself' because that just made his head hurt), Harry had found that a lot of places that once seemed familiar and rather normal to him were anything but. He could now pick out anything that was frequently introduced to magic from just a glance.

That didn't mean that he wasn't annoyed beyond belief at the headache that just looking around the platform gave him. There were so many people of magical origin crowded into the confined space and each one of them were glowing bright enough to light up a room. Frankly, it was like staring at the sun after a while and blue spots were becoming a norm for his vision.

Being held up at the bank had ended up being a blessing. Assured by the goblins that Harry would await there for them when they were finished with 'Family Business', the Weasley parents had gone ahead and begun shopping for his as well as their own, supplies. By the time Harry was done wtih his conversation with Gabriel, Mrs. Weasley was waiting in the lobby to head back to the Leaky Cauldron and Floo back to the Burrow with his new things.

She protested any and all money that he tried to hand her to pay back the expenses of his books.

Ron had informed him once they were safe in the redhead's room that Gilderoy Lockhart, their soon to be DADA teacher, was nothing but a pompous fraud that was holding a book signing. Harry winced as the encounter with Draco Malfoy's father was described to him and he had to laugh when he heard that Hagrid of all people had broken up the resulting fight. Arthur Weasley punching Lucius Malfoy in the face was one of the few moments that he would forever regret missing. If he's anything like Malfoy, Harry mused, then he probably deserved the punch and more.

'_No arguments here,'_ Gabriel said in their mind and Harry got the impression that the...whatever Gabriel was besides being him was laughing at the image Harry had conjured up. '_Would've been priceless,'_ Gabriel sighed regretfully.

Getting to the platform, however, had been more difficult than it was the year before. Harry, who was closest to the barrier, had begun his sprint towards it only to collide heavily into a solid brick wall, his trolley spinning out of control as it too bounced off the solid barrier. The surprised yelp that he admitted attracted the attention of the passerbyes nearby as well as the waiting Weasley family. Luckily, Ron had noticed the collision in time to abort his own sprint at the barrier and Harry couldn't have been more grateful that he wouldn't have to deal with the bruises that experience would leave him with.

"How odd," Mrs. Weasley had said as she knocked her hand against the solid wall. "It looks like we'll have to Apparate them in," she had said to a gim Mr. Weasley.

"I'll let the Ministry know when I go into work today," Mr. Weasley had promised in attempt to sooth his wife's rising ire. "I'm sure it's just a mistake."

Five minutes and the worst feeling of being crushed into a tube later and the Weasley's plus Harry had found themselves rushing to board the train on time which was were Harry was now, struggling to lift his trunk up the step of the train stairs. 'I forgot how hard this was,' he thought to himself in annoyance as the trunk refused to budge.

'_No upper body strength,'_ Gabriel agreed in his head. '_We should work on that.'_

Harry ignored the...whatever Gabriel was and focused on slowly budging the increasingly more heavy trunk. He was almost afraid that the train would begin to leave before he had gotten the trunk on when the Twins, once again, came to his rescue and helped him heave the trunk up the steps just in time for the train to begin moving. "Thanks," Harry gasped, out of breath from the effort it had taken to move his trunk.

"It wasn't a problem," Fred told him, smirking.

"Couldn't have the train leaving without you," George agreed, mirroring his brother.

"Mum would kill us it we did!" they chorused together, grinning brightly.

'_I like them,'_ Gabriel said and Harry got the impression that he was grinning. He wasn't sure if Gabriel's appreciation of the Twins was a good thing and decided not to dwell on it. He'd find out eventually, after all.

"Ron's in the last compartment," Fred told him as he and George grabbed their own trunks. "He's probably wondering where you are."

"And we should find Lee," George said, addressing Fred more than Harry. "See ya later, Harry!" That said, the two disappeared from the cart to locate their own friends and Harry began tugging his trunk to the last compartment on his own.

'It's not nearly as heavy as it was before,' Harry commented as the trunk followed him easily down the ail of the train cart.

'_That's because you're dragging it instead of trying to lift it,' _Gabriel told him seriously. '_Gravity was working against you.'_

'Gravity?' Harry asked as he slid open the compartment door.

Gabriel didn't answer and Harry turned his attention to Ron as the redhead helped him heaft the trunk into the netting above their seats. "What did you put in there?!" his friend asked, eyes wide and gasping. "Rocks?"

"Lockhart's books," Harry answered instead, grinning at Ron's groan of pain.

They continued talking from there, speculating on how Lockhart's class would go and wondering where Hermione was until eventually, Harry found himself dozing off to the rhythm of the train.

* * *

><p>Harry had been asleep for ten minutes when Hermione finally pulled open the compartment door. "There you both are!" she said, lowering her voice when Ron motioned to their sleeping friend.<p>

"We had some trouble getting on the platform," the redhead explained to the bushy haired girl. "The barrier just up and closed! Mum and dad had to apparate us here and we had only just managed to get on the train when it began leaving!"

"Really?" Hermione asked in surprise. "According to Hogwarts: A History, the barrier isn't supposed to close until a full hour after the train's left! I wonder why it closed now?"

"No clue but Harry's going to have some impressive bruises tomorrow from running into it," Ron winced in sympathy. "I reckon he knocked his head something fierce with how fast he was going. I half thought mum was going to go down to the Ministry right then and there and give them a piece of her mind."

Hermione gave him a suspicious look but conceded that the redhead would know his mother better than she did. "I don't think I've ever seen him sleep before," she noted as Harry curled into himself and fought back a coo at how he looked in his baggy robes.

"I don't think he slept well last night," Ron told her. "He was up before I was and he was still awake when I went to bed. I think the ghoul was keeping him up."

"Ghoul?" Hermione asked, intrigued. "You have a ghoul in your house?"

"Yup," Ron told her, pleased that he knew something she didn't. "He lives in our attic; moans something fierce at night and rattles his chains almost non-stop. I guess I'm just used to it since it's always been there."

The conversation progress from there, the two friends being sure to keep their voices down as to not upset the sleeping Harry.

* * *

><p>Harry had, indeed, not slept well the night before but unlike what Ron thought, it wasn't the ghoul that had been keeping him up.<p>

Ever since the goblins had performed the ritual that had let him meet Gabriel, Harry had found himself back in his mindscape each time he fell asleep. The blinding white of his mind had ceased to bother him and he found that he enjoyed talking to Gabriel instead of dreaming. He was learning a lot about what he was even though he'd yet to get a name for it.

"We don't really dream," Gabriel had told him on the first night that he had found himself back in the barren room thing. "Even before you found me, most of your dreams had memories mixed inside them. That flying motorbike actually happened and the green light was from Voldemort. That's why some of your dreams were so strange."

"Oh," Harry had said, fascinated with the concept. It also explained why when he did dream, he tended to forget them when he woke up.

This time, however, Harry didn't find himself in his mind with Gabriel. This time, Harry found himself on a battlefield; spells were flying all around him, crashing into his companions and lighting up the dark field they were in with blazes of color from all directions.

_His name was Ivan and he was twenty-two. This was his first battle in the fight against Grindelwald and he was determined to do his part to stop the Dark Lord and his army from advancing on the borders of Great Britain any further than he already had. As a newly minted Auror, it was his job to protect the people of Britain from the tyrannical rule of their would be conqueror._

_His wand was nearly glowing from the myriad of spells he was firing at the enemy. German wizard after German wizard fell under the strength of his spells and Ivan was delighted as he dodged the return fire; he would be damned before he let any of these Nazi bastards take him down!_

_Grindelwald was also there, firing spell after spell at his own opponent, Albus Dumbledore. The Dark Lord had, had the audacity to attack Hogsmeade and Hogwarts itself and he was paying for that arrogance as the Deputy Headmaster matched him spell for spell. Ivan had never really seen his old Transfiguration teacher look so grim and had never gotten the impression that the man was anything more than a kindly old teacher but the power he was putting into battling Grindelwald was awe inspiring._

_"Ive! On your right!" Lorane yelled from his left. Ivan dodged the oncoming spell and sent a blasting curse at its castor, nearly laughing as the scum was sent flying backwards into Honeydukes. It served him right!_

_Spell after spell was traded from friend and foe alike as the once small, kindly looking village turned into a bloodbath of fallen wizards and witches. The battle seemed to rage for hours, neither side wanting to admit defeat before there was a triumphant yell from the dueling Dark Lord and Deputy Headmaster._

_Grindelwald was winning, his spells threatening to overcome Dumbledore's in shear power. Dumbledore himself had proved to be one of the most powerful wizards in Britain and to see him being slowly overpowered was terrifying._

_Ivan was an Auror, one of the warrior wizards sworn to protect the people of Great Britain at any and all costs. So in a split decision that would cost him his life, Ivan pointed his wand at the distracted Grindelwald and fired a repulso._

_He lived long enough to watch as Dumbledore won the battle with his opponent, disarming the downed Dark Lord with a vengeance._

_In his effort to protect the world that he had sworn himself too, Ivan Rooth had been his with a severing curse and bled out on the ground of Hogsmeade while his side slowly won the battle against Grindelwald's Reapers._

_He died with a smile on his face._

The sound of a loud train whistle jerked Harry from his dream and back to real life, eyes wide and pulse racing as he woke to a worried Hermione towering over him.

"Are you alright Harry?" she asked, Ron looking just as concerned from the seat opposite of him. Harry pushed back the memories of death, battle, and victory to focus on the present and he smiled.

"Never better," he told her, grinning. She gave him a suspicious look before nodding in acceptance when she couldn't find a lie.

And he wasn't lying. He had died in defense of the world that he had loved. To see that his death had mattered and that the Wizarding World still thrived, years after the fact, filled him with a sense of accomplishment that he'd never felt before.

Harry was also pleased for an entirely different reason. The dream had been a memory, no matter how gruesome, and that could only mean one thing: He was regaining his memories.

And from the pleased hum of Gabriel in his head, he could tell that he wasn't the only one that was happy with this new turn of events.

* * *

><p>Hogwarts was different than he remembered it. The building glowed, just like Gringotts and the Burrow, but it wasn't a shimmering rainbow or a blinding white; Hogwarts glowed a golden hue that stood out proudly against the night sky and reached out to both the carriages that brought the returning students and the boats the brought in the new first years. It was like the castle, unlike the bank and the Burrow, was aware of each and every new child that entered her halls.<p>

And Harry couldn't do anything but look at the golden aura in awes as it mingled with his magic when he walked into her halls for the second time in his life.

_'Sentient,'_ Gabriel whispered in his mind. '_She's sentient.'_

Harry wasn't positive what 'sentient' meant and filed the information away to be looked at another time. Maybe when one of his other memories returned to him he would better understand what his counterpart was saying, at least, Harry hoped so. He also hoped that he would gain another memory when he went to sleep that night; he didn't think that it was a fluke but years at the Dursley's had taught him not to get his hopes up too high lest they be crushed when it inevitably fell through.

_'Not just the bastards,'_ Gabriel muttered angrily and Harry got the feeling that he'd learned that lesson more times than he could currently remember. His head throbbed angrily at that thought.

'Being two people is hardis hard,' Harry told Gabriel with a grimace. He received a hum of agreement in return and the impression that Harry wasn't the only suffering from multiple identities.

_'It'll get better,'_ Gabriel assured him and Harry couldn't help but think that he was lying.

'Great,' he thought in annoyance as he took a seat at the Gryffindor table next to Ron and across from Hermione. 'Now we're lying to ourselves.'

He didn't know whether or not to be thankful that he was soon distracted by the sorting of the new first years.

The new Gryffindor's seemed to be larger in number than Harry's own class was and Harry could see a familiar redheaded girl amongst the crowd at the end of the table. Ron, the Twins, and Percy all moved to congratulate their sister as food appeared on the table and Harry turned to Hermione to hear about her summer.

Gabriel remained suspiciously quiet throughout the whole thing.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow, this story is practically writing itself. I guess that it helps that I have the entirety of second and most of third year planned out already... So, Harry's having problems with the dual identity and now has to deal with his reawakening memories! Isn't that going to be an interesting year? I feel kind of bad for him but since 'Gabriel' is currently his memories given form, talking to him was bound to trigger something in Harry's psyche.<strong>

**Which means he's got to reconcile more than just his identity as Gabriel with himself now, poor thing (grins innocently). Being back at Hogwarts is going to make things much more interesting, especially now that he's missing most of the clues that Canon!Harry had, what with Gringotts taking longer than it did in canon.**

**Gabriel!Harry meets Lockhart for the first time! I wonder how that's going to turn out? *cackles***

**Read and Review please!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	7. Chapter 6

**You people are all awesome! 84 follower and 64 favorites already?**

_'Gabriel talking'_

'Harry talking'

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

They had Herbology first thing the next morning. Professor Sprout was one of the kinder teachers and she let it show in her cheery demeanor the entire morning.

They were working in greenhouse three for the first time, having only been allowed in greenhouse one the year before. Greenhouse three was different than the greenhouse one in that it housed the more dangerous plant. It would be their first introduction to magically sentient plants.

The Mandrake they were repotting that day did not disappoint and many of the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors found themselves sporting angry headaches and ringing ears by the end of class and only Neville Longbottom seemed to be pleased with how the class had gone that day. Harry found himself agreeing with his classmates that if he ever saw a Mandrake again, it would be too soon.

'_Loud little plants,'_ Gabriel complained in his mind. It seemed that Gabriel was just as affected by the screams of the small plants as he, himself, was.

'At least they're repotted now,' he told them both. It was a nice thought, not having to deal with the loud baby plants ever again and Harry held onto that small fact as hard as he could and followed Ron and Hermione as they all headed up to the Transfiguration classroom for their second class of the day.

Transfiguration was the same that it had always been, although their dirty attire had gotten a disapproving sniff from Professor McGonagall as they walked into the classroom. It seemed that she was well aware of the class they had just come from because unlike any other time they had shown up looking anything other than decent, the professor didn't say anything. It seemed forgoing changing for being on time wasn't something that she wanted to discourage even if they were leaving dirt everywhere.

They were working on turning a beetle into a button and it was the first time they were working with live animals in their Transfiguration career. Harry was having a bit of difficulty recalling everything he had learned last year, what with the new influx of memories from past lives cluttering the forefront of his mind.

_'Visualize,'_ Gabriel suggested._ 'Picture a button in your head while you cast.'_

His counterpart had never given him advice on performing magic before so Harry decided to listen. Visualizing a button (blue with two round holes in the middle of it) he pointed his wand at the button and said the incantation.

"Wow mate!" Ron said beside him and Harry opened his eyes to see that his beetle had indeed turned into a blue button. "How'd you change the color?" the redhead asked as he attempted to turn the spell on his own beetle. Harry wasn't all that surprised when it didn't work.

"Indeed," Professor McGonagall said from behind him, causing Harry to jump in shock. "Ten points to Gryffindor and work on changing it back for the rest of class," she told him with a smile before walking away to observe another student.

Ron and Harry both watched her in shock, having never seen her act like that to Harry before. "Weird," the redhead muttered before turning to glare at his own button.

"Picture a button," Harry suggested to him. "I was thinking about a blue one that fell off of Aunt Petunia's blouse."

Ron looked at him in contemplation before turning back to his beetle once more. By the end of class, Ron had turned the beetle into a shiny black button and Harry had ended up with a blue beetle. McGonagall's lips had quirked up in amusement at the blue beetle on the desk as the class was dismissed for lunch.

Lunch was a welcome reprieve from classes and they talked animatedly as Hermione showed them her perfect coat buttons from Transfiguration. "That's strange," Ron commented as they entered the great hall and headed to the Gryffindor table.

"What's weird?" Hermione asked, sitting across from them so she could better hear them both.

"McGonagall-" Ron was cut off before he could continue.

"Professor McGonagall," Hermione interrupted with an exasperated sigh.

"Right," Ron said, waving off the correction. "She had Harry work on changing the button back into a beetle when he got it right."

Hermione nodded. "She had me work on it too but none of my buttons seemed to go back. I think there's a trick to it that I just haven't found yet," she told them, the expression on her face showing determination to figure out what she was doing wrong.

"Really?" Harry and Ron both asked, surprised. Ron looked at Harry in contemplation. "Harry here got it back to a beetle but it was still blue," the redhead told her at her questioning look.

Hermione's face twisted in surprise before she gave him a considering look. "I wonder what we did differently?" she mused and just from looking at her face, Harry could tell that he was eventually going to be drilled on every single step that he took to get the button back to beetle form (if not beetle color). "The button I was working on turned black but I couldn't manage to make it a beetle. Maybe if we combine techniques?" she wondered aloud.

It was nice, Harry decided as they promised Ron to help him after they had figured it out, to have something in common with Hermione. The year before had mostly been Hermione nagging at them to do their homework and correcting any mistakes that they made. Harry had thought that she liked being smarter than them yet now, as she engaged him in conversation on what they had learned in Herbology, Harry could see that it wasn't being smarter that she liked but being able to help them.

Homework had never really mattered to him before; the Dursley's didn't care about how well he did, only if he did better than Dudley. He'd learned early on that doing well in school only got him accused of cheating and thrown into the cupboard. It didn't even occur to him that now that he was at Hogwarts, he didn't need to stunt his own work. He had carried over the habit from his primary school to Hogwarts with him without even realizing it.

_'Stupid bastards!'_ Gabriel growled in his head._ 'When we get back to full power, I smell retribution in their futures!'_

Harry didn't argue.

"So what do we have next?" Ron asked around a mouthful of food.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione said at once, not even glancing at the schedule she had on top of her school things.

"Why," Ron asked, seizing her schedule., "have you outlined Lockhart's class in little hearts?"

Hermione blushed and Harry felt his eyes narrow at the schedule._ 'He tries anything and we smite him,'_ Gabriel snarled in his head and Harry felt foreign power just underneath his skin. It began to burn before it was quickly snatched back.

_'Sorry,'_ Gabriel told him sheepishly. _'Our body can't handle that kind of Grace just yet. I'll have to better control it when our tempers rise.'_

Harry had indeed reacted with just as much anger as his counterpart and he assumed that was why the 'Grace', as Gabriel called it, had acted up. 'I'll try not to loose my temper as much,' he said by way of an apology. It was just as much his fault that the Grace had reacted as it was his counterparts.

Either way, Lockhart better stay away from Hermione if he knew what was good for him.

* * *

><p>The class filed into the defense room in a noise of mutterings and laughter, all looking forward to seeing how the new Defense teacher would be handling this class after having had to deal with Quirrell the year before. Once the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat to gather their attention.<p>

Harry's first impression of Gilderoy Lockhart was that the man was full of himself. The entire defense room was decorated with different pictures of himself and Lockhart was actually winking at them! "Me," he said, pointing a portrait, winking once more. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, third class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award-but I don't talk about that."

'_Wasn't he _just_ talking about it?!'_ Gabriel asked in disbelief. _'Just who hired this guy?!'_

'Professor Dumbledore did,' Harry answered glumly. They were going to have to deal with this guy the entire year? What was their Headmaster thinking?

"You have thirty minutes! Start-Now!" the wannabe Professor told them happily. Harry blinked and looked down to see a quiz in front of him.

'He's joking, right?' Harry asked Gabriel as he read the first question.

_1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?_

_'I don't think he is,'_ Gabriel said with a groan. _'Just guess and get this over with!'_

Harry did just that, writing down the first answer that popped into his mind before turning the test over as quickly as he could. Ron seemed to have done much the same as the redhead was already glaring evilly at the paper as if it had done something unforgivable.

Soon all the test were being picked up by the pounce (he didn't deserve the title of 'Professor') and Lockhart began talking again.

For his own continued sanity, Harry tuned the man out and focused on the prattling of Gabriel instead. It seemed that Gabriel had decided to list everything that was wrong with the man to entertain them while this class progressed. Harry was already mentally promising to check out a defense book from the library to read during this class because he honestly didn't trust himself to keep from calling the man a fraud to his face if he was forced to deal with him weekly.

He really should have been paying attention. It was sheer luck that he'd only taken out a quill and ink bottle from his bag because while he had been listening to Gabriel and trying to figure out which defense book to read during this class, Lockhart had pulled out a covered cage and had started talking again.

And in the most stupid of all moves, the idiot, as he would now be forever known as, released a full cage of cornish pixies on the unsuspecting students.

Chaos didn't describe the amount of damage and carnage that filled the room. Harry took one look at the rather unhappy pixies (not that he blamed them, after having been locked in a cage for who knew how long), grabbed his bag, and darted for the door with Ron on his heels.

Hermione, bless her, stayed behind to help re-cage the chaotic pixies. Harry didn't envy her one bit and it wasn't until they were halfway to Gryffindor Tower that Ron noticed something off with his friend.

"Mate," Ron began, stopping Harry dead in his tracks. "I think you've got some passengers.." He sounded vaguely horrified and looked a bit pale as he looked at a spot on Harry's robes.

Harry blinked and looked at his robe pocket, where Ron's eyes were currently focused. Sure enough, two small heads turned up to look at him, large blues eyes standing out against their pale blue skin. It seemed that he hadn't escaped quickly enough from the classroom and two pixies had decided that his pocket would make a wonderful resting place.

_'They're cute,'_ Gabriel noted in surprise.

'They just destroyed a classroom!' Harry replied in disbelief.

Gabriel was silent for a moment._ 'Like I said,'_ Harry could _hear_ the smirk. _'Cute.'_

"You can stay," he said, addressing both pixies as Gabriel asked a vague _'Can we keep them?'_ in the back of his head. "If you promise not to destroy anything in the Tower."

Two devilish grins answered his stipulation and Harry shrugged at Ron's 'are you crazy?!' look.

That was how Harry ended up with two pixies living in his pockets and Gilderoy Lockhart became his least favorite person in the world. Whoever said first days were boring had never gone to Hogwarts, Harry thought with a sigh.

* * *

><p>The next few days were spent going to classes and dodging Lockhart whenever he appeared in the hallways. The man had gotten it into his head that Harry, being the Boy-Who-Lived ('Who came up with that name?' Gabriel complained in disgust) would be the perfect apprentice for the blond hair pompous ass.<p>

He'd even hidden behind a shocked Draco Malfoy when he saw the man coming once. The blond Malfoy had turned on him as soon as the Professor was out of sight in glee.

"Hiding from teachers, now Potter? What did you do?" the pounce asked gleefully.

Harry looked at the fellow second year who had attempted to make his life hell last year and responded, "Lived," before walking away quickly, leaving the stunned Slytherin behind.

Quite frankly, after Voldemort appearing at the end of last year. Draco Malfoy wasn't nearly as much as an annoyance as he was earlier in the year before. It just wasn't worth it to keep up the childish rivalry. It struck Harry, as he thought about it, that just a few months before Harry would have sooner cut off his hand then hide behind Malfoy for anything.

_'It's the returning memories,'_ Gabriel explained as he listened to Harry's thoughts. _'You now have the complete memories of a twenty year old wizard and are starting the memories of a forty year old police officer; your mind has begun to mature to deal with all of the information.'_

Putting it that way made sense, Harry thought as he headed to Charms.

The turning point of the week was when he was woken up from a rather boring dream (apparently patrolling was more dull than one would think)by Oliver Wood, early on a Saturday morning.

"Whassamatter?" he mumbled half coherently. Gabriel grumbled in the back of their mind, upset at having been awoken far too early.

"Quidditch practice!" Wood told him. "Come on!"

Harry looked at the window and saw that there was only a faint glow coming from the outside world as the sun strained to rise for another day. Gabriel let out a mix between a growl and a moan at the realization of what time it must be. "Oliver," Harry moaned from his pillow. "It's the crack of dawn!"

"Exactly!" Oliver responded. Harry considered Gabriel's suggestion of strangling the oblivious Quidditch captain for a moment. "It's part of our new training program. Come on, grab your broom and let's go. None of the other teams have started training yet; we're going to be first off the mark this year-"

Hitting Oliver in the face with a pillow before beginning to search quietly for his Quidditch gear was much more satisfying than he had thought it would be.

"Good man," Oliver told him, enthusiastically. "Can't be spouting off our plans just anywhere!"

_'Are you sure that he's not crazy?'_ Gabriel wondered.

'Nope.' Harry didn't even have to hesitate before responding. Really, who gets up at dawn to train for Quidditch?

His question was answered as he got downstairs and saw everyone from the Quidditch team already up and dressed, brooms in hand and glares centered on Oliver. Surprisingly, the Gryffindor team wasn't the only ones awake; sitting happily on one of the common room chairs was a first year that he'd seen in the hallways a few time.

"Hi!" the first year chirped at the sight of him. "I'm Colin Creevey and of course, everyone knows who you are! Do you mind if I take a picture? Da's a milkman and he was ever so surprised when I got my letter so I promised to take pictures of everything important while I was here and send them to him-"

The introduction went on and on and on until Harry was left blinded by the bright flash of a camera. Blinking spots out of his eyes, he watched as the first year babbled a thank you before disappearing off to the dorm.

"That was...odd," Harry decided and the rest of the Quidditch team, also blinded by the flash, nodded in agreement.

Besides the strange encounter with the younger Gryffindor, Quidditch practice went as well as it could have gone, being at the crack of dawn. Harry ended up joined Fred in dreamland halfway through the explanation of diagrams that Wood was giving.

Being shaken awake by Angelina, who looked more amused than annoyed at being the pillow of two of her teammates, Harry noted that Oliver was giving an impassioned speech about winning the Quidditch cup this year. Gabriel seemed fascinated by the speech and the emphasis that Oliver was putting on the strategy and hopeful victory of a game. _'I've seen wars fought with less strategy than this!'_ Gabriel marveled in disbelief._ 'Has anyone ever told this guy that this is a game?'_

'I don't think he cares,' Harry told the irate...ugh, he really needed to get around to asking Gabriel just exactly what he was. Harry didn't think he could keep calling 'the counterpart' or 'the insane voice in his head' for all the much longer.

Harry readied his Nimbus for takeoff as the Gryffindor team soared into the sky. Ron and Hermione were sitting in the stands of the pitch, one reading and the other looking disbelieving that they were still going, breakfast in one hand. Harry's stomach growled in jealousy at the delicious looking food and the first thing he was going to do after taking a nice shower and changing was grill Fred and George for the location of the kitchen.

They'd barely just started practice when the Slytherin's showed up in full gear, smirking at them. He was honestly afraid that Oliver was going to murder Flint as the irate Gryffindor Quidditch Captain began shouting at the smirking Slytherin.

Harry was just tuning it out until he caught the reason for the pitch take over._ 'Snape's a bastard,'_ Gabriel grumbled._ 'I can't believe they let someone like that teach here!'_

Harry didn't argue with Gabriel's assessment and began scanning to crowd for the so called 'new seeker'. With the way that the Slytherin's were holding the new brooms, Harry wasn't all that surprised to see that Draco Malfoy sneering and preening in new Quidditch gear. Gabriel was even less surprised and only muttered under his breath about bribery and petty twelve year olds.

Hermione and Ron had made their way down from the stands to see what the fighting was and Draco took that as a sign to begin rubbing in the fact that Slytherin had new brooms as well as how he had made seeker. That was when the trouble really started.

"Well at least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," Hermione finally interject angrily. Harry was surprised as his muggleborn friend wasn't usually one for getting involved in confrontations. "They got in on pure talent!"

Draco's face turned a faint red. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood!" he spat at her and all around him the Gryffindor team erupted into violence.

Harry didn't know what 'mudblood' meant but he did know that it must have been horrible with the way Fred and George were both trying to attack the blond ferret. Any feeling of apathy that Harry had felt when encountering the blond earlier faded away and Gabriel was hissing and spitting like an offended cat in his head.

Anger boiled in his mind and the next thing he knew, Draco was flying backwards across the pitch. Silence encompassed the two teams as they turned to stare at the downed blond in shock, no one having drawn any wands, having left them with their clothes in the dressing room so they wouldn't chance getting them broken.

"Oops," Harry muttered, blinking and drew the attention of the surrounding people, blushing at Hermione's uncertain grateful look. Fred and George looked at him incredulously before they began roaring in laughter but Oliver looked concerned.

"How did you do that?" the Quidditch Captain asked as the Slytherin's went to help Draco up.

Harry knew for a fact that Gabriel had kept their Grace back and the presence under his skin hadn't felt the same as the burning power of Grace did. He shrugged, confused as to how he had managed to send Malfoy flying just as much as everyone else was. "I was angry?" he asked, hesitant to say anything concrete on the matter as, besides knowing that he had caused it, Harry was in the dark about the 'how' involved with sending Malfoy flying.

"Accidental magic?" Oliver mumbled as the team began to trudge back to the dressing room. It was pointless to keep arguing and Oliver already planned to send a complaint to Professor McGonagall about the Slytherin's and Malfoy's foul language. "I didn't think that you could do that after first year. Best talk to Professor McGonagall when we get back up to the school," he advised. "I'll go with you. No doubt the Slytherin's are going to spin some tale to feed back to Snape and I for one want McGonagall on our side when he tries anything."

Harry didn't argue. _'The look on his face was priceless!'_ Gabriel cackled in the back of Harry's mind.

The twelve year old once again didn't argue, smirking slightly as he remembered.

Perhaps getting up at dawn had its perks after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Finally, things are getting somewhere! Gabriel and Harry have encountered their first problem: the inability to access their Grace without risking burning themselves up. Harry's also finding himself becoming increasingly more mature as he gains more and more memories of his past lives as a human however, he still only has the emotional capacity of a twelve year old boy, as shown by how he reacted towards the slight against Hermione. <strong>

**'Gabriel' is beginning to become more and more aware as Harry regains memories and actively talks to him. **

**Any questions on anything going on? Feel free to ask them and I'll try my best to clarify!**

**Read and Review please!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Professor McGonagall wasn't pleased when she was told what happened at the pitch. "The nerve of that man!" she growled under her breath. "And to think that Mr. Malfoy would even _consider_ uttering that...that!" she couldn't seem to put her anger into words and was storming out of her office in a furious rage as Harry and Oliver strained to keep up. "I'll be having words with him about this!"

Harry had never seen the Professor in such a rage before and he couldn't help but wonder what 'mudblood' even meant. Glancing at the simmering rage that was Professor McGonagall, he decided to hold off on asking until he and Oliver were alone.

They arrived at the potions classroom in only a few minutes after leaving the Transfiguration Professor's office, having nearly sprint the entire way after the rather fast moving professor. Harry almost felt bad for Snape.

Almost.

"Severus Snape!" she shrieked as she burst into the classroom. It was lucky that it wasn't a weekday as the potion's classroom was empty of everyone but the four of them. "I don't care what you think your team needs the pitch for, you are not above the assigned rule Severus! Your team has to book the pitch like everyone else!"

Snape made to say something but was interrupted. "Don't think I don't know that you waited for the Gryffindor team to be practicing," she hissed. "Try-outs for Slytherin were done four days ago and the pitch was perfectly free then! Your team can have the pitch for today but they have forfeited their spot tomorrow!"

Snape's eyes narrowed and Harry stared wide-eyed at the steaming Professors. "Very well," the man spat, dark eyes flashing in anger. "If that's all?"

"No that is not all!" McGonagall snapped, still furious. "Mr. Malfoy is to be informed that he has detention with me for the next week!"

It soon became obvious that someone from the Slytherin team had already spoke to the Potion's Professor. "And what of Potter? Surely he'll be punished for cursing a fellow student," the man sneered at Harry as he spoke.

"I highly doubt that a burst of Accidental Magic can be considered 'cursing'," the Transfiguration Professor sniffed in disdain. "He has however been docked ten points and assigned lessons to better control his magic with me after school for as long as it takes to make sure such an outburst doesn't happen again."

Seeing as he could have ended up scrubbing cauldrons for the next week instead, Harry didn't protest and even Oliver didn't say a word against it. Professor McGonagall wasn't anything if not fair.

"Mr. Malfoy says differently," Snape didn't seem to want to let this go.

"I suppose he also says that the Gryffindor team plus Ms. Ganger and Mr. Weasley didn't hear him call Ms. Ganger a 'filthy little mudblood'?" McGonagall asked, her voice easily showing that she already knew the answer. From the enraged twisting of Snape's face, Draco had indeed left that out of the story he had told.

"Make that two week," Snape spat, eyes dancing in anger. "I will also...speak to Mr. Malfoy about his behavior."

The two students watched the swift change in the potion's master with shock. It was unheard of to have Snape adding onto a Slytherin detention!

"You both are dismissed," Professor McGonagall said as she turned to them. "I expect you in my office after dinner until this problem is solved," she added, looking at Harry who nodded his acceptance.

It could have been worse, he thought to himself as he and Oliver practically ran from the classroom.

* * *

><p>Quidditch practices resumed the next day, though this time the team made sure to go to bed early the night before so that they could be properly awake the next day. Life at Hogwarts went on as normal and October arrived quicker than they were ready for.<p>

October, sadly, meant that the weather turned from warm and sunny to rainy and muddy like someone had flipped a switch. Oliver, determined to make sure that they were prepared for all sorts of weather, increased practices to everyday and most days, the team came in soaked to the bone and muddy from walking up the lawn from the Quidditch pitch. Harry wasn't surprised when after a week of coming in soaking wet, he ended up sick.

Gabriel, however, was. '_Why does it feel like we went a few rounds with a pissed off vampire?' _Gabriel asked, whimpering as their body ached and their head throbbed.

'It's called having a cold,' Harry answered as he sneezed. Professor McGonagall had excused him from his after dinner lesson on controlling his magic after he showed up with an impressive amount of tissue in his pockets and a bright red nose. "Go get some rest," she had advised as she dismissed him. "Madame Pomfrey can give you some Pepper-Up in the morning for your classes."

Oliver had even let up on him with practices after Fred and George pointed out that he looked like a strong wind would blow him over at the moment. It wasn't all the surprising to find out that Angelina and Katie had also caught a cold from the long practices and since three of his players were out for the count, Oliver had no choice but to postpone anymore practices until they were all back on their feet.

'_Well I don't like it!'_ Gabriel moaned as they headed inside in an attempt to get to their next class quicker after taking an outside shortcut. Luckily it wasn't raining so besides the mud on his shoes, Harry was still in perfect condition for class.

His internal conversation was interrupted by Sir Nicholas muttering in the hallway that he was heading down with what looked like a letter in his hand. "...don't fulfil their requirements...half and inch if that!" the ghost grumbled, glaring at the letter as if it had physically offended him.

"Hello Nick," Harry greeted the ghost as Gabriel perked up in the back of their mind. 'I didn't know there were ghosts here,' he commented in curiosity.

Nicholas froze as he turned to look at Harry, he already clear white face paling until Harry wasn't sure he could make out any of the features that were usually ever present. "Hello Harry," Nicholas said, looking at him cautiously.

_'He can tell I'm here!'_ Gabriel sounded delighted. They had already known that the goblins could tell that Harry was different than before but to have someone from Hogwarts identify it immediately just cemented the fact that certain beings were able to comprehend the change that Gabriel had initiated in Harry.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked the ghost, ignoring Gabriel's delight as his cold made itself known again. He sneezed, his glasses fogging up at the sudden warm breath and his eyes watering with the force.

"Yes, yes," Nicholas waved the question off and peered closer at him. "You don't seem to be doing all that well, yourself, however. I must say, I do not miss cold season all the much."

Harry hummed, nodding. "I can't say I would miss it either," he told the ghost with a grimace. "My head is throbbing something fierce."

Nick relaxed into the conversation and finally began explaining about the letter. It seemed he was disgruntled at not being able to join the Headless Hunt and Harry had to say, getting hit with an ax forty-five times and still having just enough skin on your neck to hold it on painted a rather gruesome picture of how the ghost had died. 'Really, his head is nearly completely cut off,' Gabriel said as he listened. 'I don't understand why they just don't let him join. Is it really a big deal that his head didn't fall off all the way?'

Harry didn't comment as he was distracted at that moment by a soft meow coming from where his feet were. Looking down to see Mrs. Norris looking up at him accusingly, Harry let out a put upon sigh and knew that Filch wouldn't be that far behind.

"Best get out of here," Nick advised as he looked a Mrs. Norris. "Filch is in a rotten mood."

Filch could be in a good mood? Harry wondered as the caretaker seemingly warped into the corridor as if whatever bond he held with the cat had summoned him. One look at Harry and then the mud that was on the corridor floor (which didn't even come from just him!) and Harry found himself being dragged to the caretakers office as the man ranted about frog eggs and unruly children.

Really, the man was overreacting! It was just a bit of mud and most of it wasn't even from Harry who hadn't moved all the far before he had begun talking with Nick. Filch didn't see it that way and complained about the extra scrubbing that the mud would cause him as if it was Harry's fault that an hour had now been added to the caretaker's work.

_'Who pissed in this guys oatmeal?'_ Gabriel grouched as Filch began filling out the report form. _'I doubt that a bit of mud is all that much work when he can just wave his wand and have be gone.'_

Harry agreed silently as a loud bang came from upstairs. Filch growled in anger, "Peeves! I'll get you this time!" The caretaker seemingly forgot about him and was gone in an instant, report still sitting innocently on his desk half-filled out.

_'Quick, now's our chance!'_ Gabriel told him. _'Get out of here!'_

Harry was about to do that when a pamphlet caught his eyes. It was glossy and purple with silver lettering that stood out on the drab desk that took up most of the room in Filch's office. 'Kwikspell,' Harry read the silver lettering silently. 'A Correspondence Course in Beginner's Magic.' He quickly read over the front side, bringing the pamphlet closer to him so he could read it better. Harry flipped it open, reading the introduction before moving on to lesson one, fascinated at how it described different ways that some people held their wands and the ways it could affect their casting.

So engrossed as he was in reading it, Harry didn't notice when Flich came back and gave a pained grunt at seeing Harry with the glossy purple instruction manual. "You-you...my private mail! Not that its mine of course but..."

Harry stared at Filch as he wrung his hands around his wrists, baffled. "Um," he said, eyes wide. He honestly couldn't tell if the man was mad beyond belief or embarrassed and as he began threatening him about telling something clicked in Harry's mind. "You're a squib!" he realized and was horrified as he realized he'd said that aloud. Filch stopped his sentence in its tracks to glare at him.

"N-not that that's a problem!" he amended as Gabriel radiated horror in his mind from his earlier snide comments. It seemed that his counterpart was realizing just how much work Filch would have to do to keep the castle clean without magic and how much work that mud had added to what was probably an already impressive work load. 'No wonder he always looks upset,' Harry thought to himself.

"Don't you going telling anyone, you hear me boy!" Filch snapped and went back to all the horrible things he would do to him if he found out that Harry had told anyone.

"I'm not going to tell!" Harry finally yelled over the threats before slamming a hand over his mouth in surprise at his outburst. Filch was similarly surprised Harry had never yelled in the caretaker's presence. He blushed scarlet as the grouchy man stared at him.

"I-I mean it isn't like it's problem!" Harry defended his reaction, eyes wide. "The castle's cleaner than Aunt Petunia's kitchen most of the time and the Headmaster wouldn't have hired you if it was a problem and I'm sorry about the mud, it didn't seem like a big deal and I didn't know-" Harry continued to babble off apologies as he waited for the oncoming blow that Filch was sure to throw.

_'Freaking Dursley's!'_ Gabriel grumbled as Harry's babbling continued. _'Not all adults hit children for yelling and now we've got even more issues to work through!'_ His counterpart whined as Filch continued to stare at them in shock. _'We should have just left when we could.'_

Harry didn't argue with that, also regretting staying around to read the Kwikspell pamphlet, no matter how interesting it had been. He never was good at talking to adults and from the way Filch was starting to look more and more incredulously at him, Harry didn't think that he'd ever get better at it.

_'We will,'_ Gabriel assured him. _'It just takes some confidence, which you sorely lack but don't worry, we'll fix that!'_ Harry didn't know if he wanted to know what Gabriel meant by that and finally shut his mouth with an audible snap, glancing up at Filch from behind his fringe.

The man looked stunned at Harry's rambling and couldn't seem to close his mouth. Harry looked carefully placed the pamphlet on the nearly empty desk, babbled another apology, before darting behind that man and out the door.

That could have gone so much better, he noted absently and berated himself for his reaction to Filch catching him. It wasn't the caretaker would be allowed to hit him but the purple color he had been turning had reminded him a lot of Uncle Vernon.

Harry, being already a half an hour late for his next class, decided his head felt like it was going to explode and headed to the hospital wing instead. Being fussed over by Madame Pomfrey sound like a much better alternative than getting scolded by Professor Flitwick.

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><p>Filch avoided him like the plague after their strange encounter in his office and Harry couldn't find it in himself to be disappointed. Halloween was soon upon them and Harry forgot all about the strange incident, although he did thank Nick when he found out that the Gryffindor ghost was the one that got Peeves to knock down the Vanishing Cabinet.<p>

Harry was looking forward to having a carefree Halloween Feast with his cold fully gone and no death threats yet this year. The Great Hall looked just as magnificent as it had the year before (minus trolls running around the castle) and Harry engrossed himself into the meal with the rest of the student body.

That was until a student came in screaming and crying, running up to Professor McGonagall and going on about a dead cat and blood near the girls bathroom. The students were quickly told to go back to their dorms early (for the second year in a row, Harry noted in sadness) as the teachers rushed out of the room with the girl in the lead.

So much for an uneventful Halloween, Harry thought as he followed the rest of his house back up to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Maybe Halloween was cursed.

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><p><strong>Wow, this story is just writing itself. I mean seriously, we're already to the main plot point of the second book! <strong>

**I was a little skeptical about the scene with Filch but as much as Harry has matured, he still thinks the worst of adults and Filch is the most likely out of all the adults in Hogwarts to resort to physical violence. Before you all ask, no Vernon doesn't beat Harry. Just smacks him if he's very displeased which is less violent than in the beginning of the second book in canon where Petunia throws a frying pan at his head (not even joking, I was just like WTF? when I first read the second book and that happened.).**

**The scene with Snape was also something that I couldn't leave out. Snape may be one of my least favorite characters but after what happened when he called Lily a 'mudblood' in the flashback in the fifth book, I can't see him letting it slide that Draco was freely using the word. He is Draco's godfather after all. **

**So Harry's going to start coming out of his shell due to Gabriel's influence on him and Gabriel is also becoming more focused and involved with Harry even if they're still split from each other. Their having trouble reconciling both of their identities together so Harry'll be having more extreme reactions to things than he normally would.**

**There are some of you who think I'm sticking too close to canon and for that, I can't really apologize. Harry's still mostly Harry at this point in time and he's going to react to certain things about the same as canon Harry did. However, I'm going to start diverging even more from canon from this point on as certain events (like Nick's Deathday Party, for example) won't effect Gabriel!Harry as they did Canon Harry.**

**Two chapters not that far apart from each other! Aren't you special? **

**Read and Review please! Questions will be answered as best as I can!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	9. Chapter 8

**Alright, there was a small problem with one of the chapters (chapter six, for some reason, had decided that it wanted to be chapter seven) but it should be fixed now! There was also a little mistake in the chapter numbering on my part which has also been fixed (I bet none of you noticed that there wasn't a chapter four). If you notice anything else wrong, please let me know and I'll try to get it fixed as soon as possible.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>

The news was all around the school by morning; Mrs. Norris had been petrified and her blood was used to write a morbid message on the wall: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE.

The castle was alive with speculations on the chamber and what it could possibly contain; they even managed to get Binns to talk about it during History of Magic the next day and the story of Slytherin's secret chamber was all over the school by mid-morning and Hermione dragged them both to the library as soon as breakfast got out.

It was too bad that the book she was looking for, Hogwarts: A History, had all of its copies checked out and her own copy had been left at home in favor of Lockhart's books.

"Should've just left them," Ron mumbled to him as Hermione ranted about the missing copies. "It's not like it would've made that much of a difference."

That was beyond true. Two months into the school year and Lockhart's class consisted of him acting out scenes from his books, usually using Harry as the creature he was taking down. Gabriel was just as disgruntled about it as he was and, much to Hermione's disapproval, he tended to skip the class more often than not, taking refuge in the library where Madame Pince turned a blind eye to what he was doing (it seemed that Lockhart had attempted to tell her how to properly organize the library and she hadn't forgiven him the offense). While Harry was clueless as to what was going on in Lockhart's class he was learning more about defense than he had since coming to Hogwarts.

"I just can't figure out what Slytherin's monster is!" She fumed, sitting down at one of the library tables in defeat. "I can't find any creatures that petrify like what happened with Mrs. Norris!"

Harry had to admit that he wasn't having much luck in finding out anything about the monster, either. All the books on magical creatures agreed that petrification on the level that had happened with Mrs. Norris was impossible. That left only spells behind the cat's current state and the Professor's seemed sure that no student would be able to cast the powerful spells that would cause that effect. Harry just got the feeling that they were all missing something, something horribly important.

Gabriel wasn't any help in identifying the cause or the culprit. Harry's counterpart was adamant that they stay out of it and let the teachers handle the situation. Being at low power and not even complete in sync yet left them with a glaring weakness that Gabriel didn't want to risk being exploited.

The problem was that Harry had a feeling that they'd be dragged into this mess whether they liked it or not and most of the time his feelings came true.

When they weren't in the library trying to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, Harry was down by Hagrid's cabin visiting Hope. The unicorn had been absent most of the year due to getting ready to give birth to three healthy unicorn foals and she had brought them to meet him now that they were strong enough to walk the distance.

Two of the foals were a beautiful pure white while the third foal took after both its parents and was spotted with gold. Harry found that the gold spotted unicorn was his favorite as he had warmed right up to Harry immediately.

"I'll call you Sol," he told the rather hyper foal before turning to the two watching foals. "You'll be Celestica and Mystica," he told the two, smiling as they seemed to approve the names. He wasn't sure what had prompted him to name them that but decided to just go with it as both Celestica and Mystica seemed pleased with their names.

Hope gently nudge Harry to her side and the twelve year old let out a content hum as Sol snuggled up to him, Celestica claiming his other side and Mystica deciding to use his legs as a pillow. '_They're so cute!' _Gabriel cooed in his head and Harry wondered if this meant that his counterpart wanted to keep them as well. Tinker and Havoc, the two pixies that had made themselves at home in Harry's pockets, were already enough trouble as it was and the only reason that Professor McGonagall hadn't demanded they go was the fact that the rest of Gryffindor Tower had adopted the two pixies as well and hadn't actually told her about them yet.

'_They haven't broken anything.'_ Gabriel countered, seeming pleased with something. '_Well, not anything that belongs to Gryffindor anyways. Lockhart's stuff is fair game!'_

Something told him that he didn't want to know what the two scemeing pixies had done to the rather idiotic Defense Professor, instead he leaned back against Hope's warm body and closed his eyes as a feeling of peace came over him.

He spent the next couple of hours dozing in and out of sleep, no worries keeping him stressed and awake, which was a nice change from normal. Hope and her three foals seemed just as content to lay there and even Gabriel hummed happily in the back of their mind. Harry didn't realize how much he had missed spending time with Hope before now and he silently promised himself not to let so much time pass before visiting her again.

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><p>Weeks passed without so much as another whisper about the Chamber of Secrets and the whole school was buzzing about who the culprit could have been. No one was taking the threat of the Chamber's "monster" seriously excepted for the teachers and Harry and his friends. It seemed that no one considered the fact that anything that could petrify a cat without being seen or leaving a trace could easily move onto students.<p>

Harry himself hadn't considered that fact until Gabriel had pointed it out in their head. He was understandably worried that whoever had opened the Chamber and attacked Mrs. Norris had an agenda and the last time that someone in Hogwarts had an agenda, Harry ended up on the wrong side of Voldemort and had nearly died.

Harry, though, wasn't able to think much more about the Chamber or the secrets it held as the first Slytherin-Gryffindor Qudditch match of the year arrived. Oliver was in a right tizzy, pushing up practices and demanding perfection from the players, saying that if they were going to beat Slytherin on their better brooms, they needed to think less and react more.

Gabriel agreed. _'Thinking your actions through slows you down,'_ he explained at Harry's questioning prod._ 'Muscles memory doesn't require thought and if you do it right enough, it becomes second nature to you.'_

That sounded annoyingly logical but Harry remained that repeating was one thing and being forced to spend nearly as much time possible outside, no matter the weather, practicing the same move over and over was another.

"Slytherin's got better brooms," Wood began as the team gathered around for their pre-game speech. "No point denying it. But we've got better people on our brooms. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime Malfoy buy his way onto their team!" Chest heaving in emotion, Oliver turned to Harry. "It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry, because we've got to win today. We've got to!"

Harry gave him a solemn nod, eyes already planning out the best ways to shake Malfoy off his tail when they got on the field. Soon enough the team was making their way out to the pitch where the watching students erupted into cheers, only Slytherin booing their team. Oliver and Flint shook hands before readying themselves on their broom, the two opposing teams doing the same.

"On my whistle," Madam Hooch called out to them. "Three...two...one!"

The players were up in the air as soon as the whistle sounded, all of them moving to their practiced spots on instinct alone; just in time for one of the Slytherin Beaters to send a bludger hurtling towards one of the Gryffindor chasers only to be blocked by one of the Twins taking point on her, just as Oliver had, had them practice for the past month.

Harry didn't really have all that much to do until he located the Snitch so he just hoved near the start off point.

"All right there, Scarhead?" Malfoy yelled as he darted back and forth beneath him, probably trying to show off the speed of his broom. Harry ignored him as he swerved to the side to avoid a bludger that was heading straight for him. It was such a close near miss that Harry could have sworn he felt the bludger ruffle his hair as it passed.

"Close one, Harry!" George called as he sped past him, bat ready to knock the bludger back towards a Slytherin. Harry saw George give the bludger a hard whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey and was glad he had been watching as the bludger immediately turned course to head straight for him once again. Letting out a surprised curse, Harry maneuvered downward just in time for it to pass him once again. George hit it in the direction of Draco Malfoy, this time.

Then, like a boomerang, the bludger was heading for him once again. Harry heard Gabriel curse in their head and put on speed as he attempted to keep ahead of the bludger pursuit. He had no idea what was going on; bludgers were meant to unseat as many players as possible and yet this one seemed to have fixated on him for some odd reason.

Fred was waiting for the bludger as Harry sped past him on his broom, ducking just in time for Fred to knock the bludger off course from its destination of Harry's head. "Gotcha!" he yelled in triumph.

If only it was that easy as Gabriel barely managed to warn Harry in time as the bludger came after his head again. The twelve year old was getting more and more upset as the bludger continued to focus on him like it was magnetically attracted to him. To top it all off, it had started to rain and the droplets were hindering his already poor eyesight. _'Can't wait until that get's fixed,'_ Gabriel grumbled before shouting off another warning as the bludger approached.

The Nimbus Two Thousand responded eagerly to his directing and in was almost as if Harry and the broom were one as he avoided the bludger and zigzagged across the field at full speed. Fred and George kept on him, knocking the bludger away whenever it became dangerously close and Harry made a promise to himself to thank them after the game was through.

The Twins finally managed to signal to Oliver as they kept the bludger away from Harry as best as they could. The bludger was getting dangerously close to taking his head off as he made a mad dash across the field and back on the broom.

Madam Pince walked over their way as a timeout was called and it was just luck that the bludger took that time to launch into another attack, Harry barely able to roll his broom out of the way as Fred deflected it. The Flying instructor looked at the bludger in shock as rebounded back before dodging herself as Harry was forced to head her way to avoid having his nose broken.

"I've never seen such a thing!" she sputtered and motioned for the Twins and the Slytherin beaters to help her with the bludger. The four of them just barely managed to get the fighting ball into its case as Madam Hooch motioned to McGonagall to inform the watching students of what was happening.

"It seems that a Bludger has gone rogue and attempted to take the head off of the Gryffindor Seeker," Lee Jordan announced at Professor McGonagall's prompting. "The game has been called to a timeout until Madam Hooch can figure out what's wrong with it."

Harry gave a sigh of relief as he was able to hover in the air without worry of the bludger coming after him for the first time since the game started. Madam Hooch had her wand pointed at the ball, muttering something under her breath and frowning as her wand glowed red. "This bludger has been jinxed," she finally declared. "Someone set it up to target Mr. Potter only. When I find out who did this..." she trailed off, her eyes flashing in undisguised anger.

The Slytherin team looked just as stunned as the rest of them, however well they tried to hid it. Malfoy, on the other hand, looked amused and was snickering behind his hand as it was declared that the game would continue without the bludger as she had no clue how to reverse the jinx that was on it.

Ten minutes later and the snitch was in Harry's hand, Gryffindor winning 170 to 60. The fact that the Snitch had been hovering over Malfoy's ear when Harry had caught it was only icing on the cake and the blond Slytherin could be heard swearing up a storm all the way to the Slytherin dressing room.

"Unbelievable flying!" George said as the twins cornered him in the dressing room, ginning. "I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about the Snitch being right on top of his head and him not noticing. Malfoy didn't look pleased."

"It's a good thing Madam Hooch caught that rogue Bludger and took it out of the game," Fred added with a grimace. "That thing was strong! It'd have probably taken your head off if it had hit you!"

"Come on!" Alicia called from the girls side of the changing room. "Oliver and the other's are getting the house-elves to bring up food to the Common Room! Says he wants to celebrate the first victory of the season!"

The Twins ruffled his hair with two matching grins before leaving Harry to finish changing and make his own way up to the castle.

_'I hope they have cake,'_ Gabriel said and Harry doubted that he had heard his counterpart happier since they had started talking. Shaking his head with his own grin, Harry quickly dried himself off and threw on his robes before nearly running out of the dressing room and up to the castle.

With his luck, if he had dawdled, the Twins would have eaten all the cake.

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><p>Harry was awoken with a groan later that night by a popping noise that filled the boy's dorm room. Being a light sleeper, Harry was the only one to wake up out of the boys he shared a dorm room with. Squinting his eyes in the dark, he fought not to scream in shock as large green eyes looked back at him. "Dobby?" he asked softly in disbelief.<p>

"Harry Potter came back to school," Dobby whispered miserably. "Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?"

Harry blinked and replied without thinking. "I didn't miss the train," he said in confusion. The barrier had closed, sure, and it had nearly been a close call but he hadn't missed the train. Dobby looked up in surprise at his reply before shaking his head miserably once more.

"Dobby was so surprised when he heard that Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts," the little house-elf mourned silently. "Dobby accidently burned master's dinner...such a flogging Dobby's never had..."

Both Gabriel and Harry were enraged as the house-elf continued talking. _'This master of his better hope he doesn't live to see us fully powered and back in business,'_ Gabriel snarled in rage. _'Or else I'll introduce him to the other side of a flogging! See how he likes his hands ironed and how well rags keep out the cold!'_

Harry agreed wholeheartedly. Sure Dobby had been attempting to keep him from Hogwarts but with the Chamber of Secrets opened and a monster on the loose... 'Wait a minute!' Harry thought in shock as he realized what had been bothering him since the summer and once again when the writing on the wall appeared. 'Dobby knew that something was going to happen! If we can find out who his master is...'

_'We'll know who's behind this entire thing!'_ Gabriel crooned in happiness. Harry focused back on the wide-eyed house-elf, ignoring it when Dobby bemoaned his bludger not working in sending Harry home ('We've got to teach him how to properly save someone's life,' Harry sighed in his head. Gabriel gave an agreeing hum). "Dobby," Harry began slowly, thinking over his words carefully. "You were ordered not to tell anyone about what's happening in Hogwarts, right?"

The small elf stopped talking and focused on Harry, his big green eyes widening while he nodded. "Yessir, Harry Potter sir!"

"So if I asked you if You-Know-Who was behind this..." Harry trailed off as the house-elf seemed to understand what he was doing. Harry figured that Dobby had already been exploiting loop-holes in his orders to warn Harry.

"Not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir," Dobby insisted but the emphasis on the last part was telling.

_'Not Voldemort,'_ Gabriel realized. '_He's saying that it's not Voldemort but it also is him...somehow, Voldemort is doing this from before he became a dark lord!'_

'But how?' Harry asked, feeling his head throb at another headache inducing concept being introduced to him. 'It isn't like he can just jump through time whenever he feels like it or he would have known not to try and kill us,' Harry pointed out.

Gabriel was silent, presumably trying to find another explanation for how it could be Voldemort and yet not be Voldemort.

"Alright," Harry said after a moment and as he was about to ask another question, Ron groaned and began sitting up in the bed next to him. Dobby squeaked at the sudden movement and was gone with a soft 'pop', leaving Harry with more questions than he had started with.

'I better tell Ron and Hermione in the morning,' Harry thought as he settled down to go back to sleep.

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><p><strong>And with that, we're about halfway through the book (or maybe we're over half, I don't really have a copy of Chamber of Secrets sitting open in front of me)! The real trouble is just about to start and Dobby's given Harry and 'Gabriel' their first clue to begin solving the puzzle. Without stumbling upon the diary, going to the hospital wing and seeing Collin petrified along with his camera trashed, not to mention not studying the place where the writing was put on the wall, they're missing a lot of clues that Canon Harry had. <strong>

**I was almost gong to wait until tomorrow to post this but it was already nearly done and I just couldn't help but finish it and post it tonight. You guys are all awesome and I'm glad that you're enjoying this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it!**

**Read and Review please! **

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

The attack on Colin Creevey was common knowledge by the morning as Gryffindor seemed to shut down on itself. While Colin was only a first year and most found his constant picturing taking to be annoying, having the first human victim be from their own house was staggering and to top it all off, no one could remember seeing Colin at the Quidditch celebration the night before. Percy Weasley seemed to be taking the petrification the hardest. "It's my job to know when someone's missing after curfew!" the Prefect bemoaned, holding his hands over his head. "How is it possible that no one noticed he was gone?"

That was the million dollar question: how had Colin's absence been missed? The first year was always making his presence known with the flashing of his camera and he tried to be anywhere Harry was. Thinking about it, the group of combined Gryffindor's couldn't remember hearing the clicking of a camera or seeing that blinding flash all night.

Ginny Weasley seemed to be taking her friend's petrification hard as well, wailing whenever someone mentioned the boy and downright sobbing ever since McGonagall had announced the new that morning two weeks ago.

That added with the visit from Dobby and the trio of Gryffindor's couldn't have found better clues if they had been trying. "Colin's a muggleborn," Hermione said fretfully that day at lunch, not even protesting the cancelled classes so that the teacher's could search for the monster. "What if this really _is_ about purging the school?"

Both Gabriel and Harry didn't like that thought however... '_Voldemort did have to develop his hate of muggleborns at some point,'_ Gabriel mumbled in thought. '_But how is he doing this?'_

The hundred pound question: just how was Voldemort seemingly coming forward in time and petrifying people? According to the brief explanation on time travel that Gabriel had given Harry, time was fluid and ever changing. Going backwards in time to change events was impossible as your effect on the timeline by traveling backwards had been accounted for by the time stream already and all you would do is cement the events into place. Going forward in time wasn't an option because finding the correct future out of all the possible futures was impossible.

Needless to say, Harry gained a headache and Gabriel was stumped. Hermione and Ron were just as in the dark as they were and none of the library books yielded any information.

So intent on finding out what was going on, Harry declined going to the dueling club that Lockhart had formed in order to better protect themselves. 'A fraud isn't going to be able to teach us anything useful,' he thought to himself as he continued reading, Hermione having dragged Ron off in order to see if the club had any potential. 'I can't believe that she has a crush on him.'

'_She'll get over it soon enough,'_ Gabriel assured him. '_Besides, she was bound to have her first crush at some point.'_

Harry nodded absently before freezing as a voice spoke from all around them . "_Blood,"_ it echoed around the room. "_Hunt...hungry! Kill!"_

'_What on Earth is that?!'_ Gabriel nearly shouted in their mind as Harry's head whipped along to search for where the voice could be coming from.

Besides Madam Pince, he was the only one in the library and yet the voice was still echoing softly around them and Harry could swear that it was moving. '_Follow it!'_ Gabriel said hurriedly and Harry obliged, shutting the book he was reading, grabbing his book bag and forcing himself not to run after the voice.

Outside the library, the strange murderous voice was louder, seemingly going upwards. Harry sprinted after it, his stomach twisting in horror at the thought of who could be targeted next when he turned the corner and found himself suddenly sliding as his feet hit a large pool of water. Falling to the floor with a half aborted shriek, the water soaked through his once dry clothes.

Climbing to his feet and groaning at the new soreness of his backside, Harry looked around in curiosity before looking at the wall in shock. There, in blood red lettering, was the threatening writing on the wall and what looked like scorch marks seared into the bricks that were stained red. Somehow, Harry had made it to the second floor without noticing and the voice he had been following was gone. Confused and frustrated, Harry settled on finding out where all this water had come from.

He regretted the decision soon after.

Moaning Myrtle was one of the few Hogwarts ghosts that was loathed by the entire student body. Myrtle didn't seem to have a purpose in her afterlife, unlike most of the ghost in Hogwarts that attempted to help out their respective houses as much as they could. Even Peeves had his purpose in causing mayhem and mischief around Hogwarts. Myrtle just stayed in her bathroom, crying and occasionally flooding the second floor hallway.

Harry found that out the hard way, having only heard rumors of the ghost the year before. Myrtle was sitting up the window of the bathroom, her head in her hands as she cried her misery out for the world to hear. She looked up when he entered but quickly returned to her previous activities once she had properly glimpsed him. Harry could hear Gabriel snort in the back of his head and mutter something about 'weepy cry babies that should have just gone with their reaper'. Not knowing what a reaper was, Harry didn't comment and continued to observe the bathroom around him.

That was how he found the soak black book that shined with a black aura on the bathroom floor. 'What is that?!' Gabriel screeched in their mind, seemingly offend by the mere presence of the book. Harry didn't know but he had a hunch that it had something to do with the Chamber.

Picking up the books, Harry retreated to the library to further look into the matter, not even bothering to remember his wet clothes or aching behind.

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><p>The next day, Harry animatedly explained what he had learned to a listening Ron and an increasingly horrified Hermione. "They thought Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets originally?!" she practically yelled, not caring of the listening ears, so caught up in her disbelief. "Are they mentally retarded?"<p>

Having never heard Hermione insult someone before, Harry had to stop himself from letting out a startled snort. It would figure that the one time Hermione insulted someone with authority it would be in defense of one of her friends. Not that he blamed her because he completely and utterly agreed. Unicorns were pure and glaringly picky creatures; there would be no way that Hope would accept Hagrid's presence if he had been responsible for killing a student and attacking the school.

There was also the way that the diary had felt, ugly and dirty on his skin when he held it and the way the black aura attempted to reach out to him at times was alarming. Gabriel was already spitting and snarling whenever he saw it and Harry couldn't bring himself to touch it again to dispose of it nor could he seem to find the will to go inform a teacher.

He'd tried once, going up to Professor McGonagall with the intent to tell her about his discovery, only to find himself asking a question instead. The same results had happened when he'd attempted to tell Hagrid and yet he could freely talk to his friends about the strange journal and Tom Marvolo Riddle. It irked him and confused him at the same time.

'Whatever that thing is,' Gabriel grumbled. 'It's bad news and I don't want it nearly us any longer than we have to have it!'

Luckily, Christmas Holiday approached quickly and Harry found himself with an invitation to the Burrow for the holidays. He quickly sent off Hedwig with his response, ignoring the pang of jealousy as he watched her fly away into the night sky.

The days passed quickly, the entire school abuzz with talk of the approaching holidays, and Harry, who had never had much reason to celebrate, was anxious for break to start. Soon enough, sooner than Harry had thought possible, he found himself back on Platform Nine and Three Quarters and heading to the Burrow with the Weasley family.

They were greeted by two unfamiliar redheaded males as they pulled up to the Burrow, Ginny letting out a delighted squeal at the sight of them and the excited girl barely waited for the car to roll to a stop before she jumped out and practically tackled the tallest of them.

"That's Charlie!" Ron told him as he pointed to the still standing male who was holding his stomach as he laughed at Ginny and what was presumably the oldest Weasley. "The one on the ground under Ginny is Bill! I can't believe they didn't tell us they were coming!"

That was how Harry was finally introduced to the entire Weasley family, easily getting along with Bill and Charlie as the oldest of the redheaded family easily slid back into life at the Burrow. Harry found that Charlie was a wealth of information on magical creatures and was just as happy to tell them everything he knew as he was to tease them for their sudden interest.

Both Harry and Ron kept quiet about the supposed monster lurking in the hall of Hogwarts and took the ribbing with the intent that it was given, though both were disappointed when no creature matching the criteria of the attacks was brought up.

Bill had just as fascinating stories as Charlie did, however, as he worked as a curse breaker for Gringotts in Egypt. Tales of the Egyptian tombs and the different curses and traps that lay in wait within captivated even the Twins and Percy as the two weeks slowly crawled by. Harry, with some prodding from Gabriel, promised himself that he would be taking Ancient Runes the next year. From the way Bill made it sound, Runes were essential in his line of work and Harry certainly thought that being a curse breaker would be an interesting career to look into.

When Christmas day had arrived, Harry was nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited with bated breath for Ron to wake up. Harry had gotten up early this year in order to sneak his gifts to the Weasley's under the tree before anyone could see. He'd also taken the opportunity to hide a few galleons around the house in various places.

It had been obvious to Harry, from his first night at the Burrow, that although Mr. Weasley was overworked the man was severely under payed for his job. Harry had more money than he knew how to deal with, however, and had plenty left over from school shopping the year before and had begun sneaking a few galleons along with plenty of sickles and knuts, into very plausible place he could. He also kept quiet when he saw Mrs. Weasley eye him in suspicion a few times as she looked a pile of sickles that had been sitting innocently in the laundry room hamper.

Ron gave a mumbled groan from his bed and began to stir. Harry quickly pretended to be asleep as the redhead shuffled to his feet and silently made his way out of the room, probably planning to go wake up the other's before he moved onto Harry. Knowing that the Twins would attempt to prank him if he kept up his pretense, Harry climbed out of bed and began getting ready for the day, Ron soon joining him and giving him a knowing look when he thought Harry wasn't looking.

_'You need to learn to lie better,'_ Gabriel complained as Harry made his way out of the room to head downstairs for breakfast.

'You know how to lie well,' Harry pointed out.

_'Yes,'_ Gabriel agreed.

'Then what's the problem? I'm you, aren't I?'

His counterpart had no response for that and remained silent as he contemplated the question. In honesty, Gabriel had no idea how he felt about that; on one hand, Harry was him, his very essence given a human soul and on another hand, Gabriel couldn't really reconcile the mostly polite and honest twelve year old as being the same person as the prone to lying and rude Gabriel that his memories made him out to be.

Just how much of his very identity did he give up when he had assumed the role of Loki? The memories given conscience was afraid to dig for that answer, not wanting to know just how far from what he had been he had given up when he had left Heaven. He wondered how much of his time as a human, in all his various incarnations, had been a punishment as much as it had been a reward.

"Happy Christmas!" Harry was greeted by two enthusiastic fourth years, identical grins on their faces as the gabbed both of his arms and dragged him into the main room of the Burrow where a large tree stood and gifts laid strewn about the floor. "Present time!" The Twins chorused as Ron made to join them.

Bill and Charlie went first, both picking up their presents with care. Charlies received a pair of fire proof robes from his parents as well as an updated guide on magical creatures from his sibling as a combined gift. Harry, not having expected the older siblings, had only barely managed to owl order a book on the many species of dragons that had been recently discovered or had gone extinct over the years. He received a surprised hug from the Dragon Handler after Charlie had slipped on his customary Weasley sweater.

Bill, along with his own Weasley sweater, had received a set of robes that were covered in protection charms, dragon hide boots from Charlie, and a set of books on rare ancient spells from his siblings. Harry had gotten him pair of goggles that were charmed to see magic that he had seen Bill eyeing earlier in the week.

"Where did you find the time to get this?" the eldest Weasley asked in surprise as he tried the goggles out. Harry saw the magic of the Burrow pulse in greeting and grinned at the awe that filled Bill's face.

"There should be a guide on the different colors with them," Harry told him, ignoring the question in favor of searching out for the guide and handing it to the awestruck Weasley.

The Twins were next, Weasley sweaters having already been put on while Charlie and Bill had opened their presents. Harry looked at Percy in askance only to have to third oldest laugh when he caught Harry's eye.

"It's for our combined health." Percy explained. "The Twins once blew up the tree because they got bored waiting for their turn."

Harry laughed at the thought of an exploding Christmas tree just as the twins let out combined yell of surprise and jumped on him. Harry, having been annoyed at Malfoy's taunts over their brooms, had gotten the Twins two Nimbus Two Thousand's for Christmas. Harry didn't even think that they had even bothered with their other presents yet, to occupied with seeing how long it would take for Harry to suffocate from their gratefulness. "Can't breathe!" he gasped out from underneath them, inciting laughter from the watching Weasley's. Ron seemed to be snickering the most as he watched them.

They finally let up and Harry gasped for breath as air filled his abused lungs. Fred was the first one to speak as Harry's breath returned to a normal pace. "Why Two Thousand's?" he seemed pleased but also confused. It was clear that he was remembering the Two Thousand and One's that Slytherin was riding.

"Well, Malfoy thinks that the Two Thousand and One's are good brooms and he can't catch the Snitch when it literally on his head so I figured that wasn't a recommendation in their favor," Harry explained to the combined laughs of everyone that knew what he was talking about and the surprised chuckles of those who didn't know how the first Quidditch game had gone. Gabriel gave a hum of approval in the back of their head. "Plus there was a sale going one and I figured Oliver might stop making eyes at my broom if he had his own."

The Twins burst out in laughter, forced to hold their stomachs in attempt to keep from falling over from laughing as hard as they were.

The rest of the day progressed with Ron receiving his own broom from Harry as well as a myriad of gifts with Quidditch themes (even a book on the Chudley Cannons from Hermione), the Twins gaining prank kits from Zonko's, Mr. Weasley getting many new muggle contraptions to figure out, and Percy ending up with six new books from both his family, Harry, and his friends from Hogwarts.

Mrs. Weasley received a combined gift theme of cookbooks, both muggle and wizard, which she hummed in pleasure as she read. Ginny ended up with an assortment of things but she seemed to like Harry's gift the best once she figured out what it was for. The look on her face when she looked at exactly thirteen galleons was worth it though because he had never seen someone looked amused, confused, and hurt at the same time.

"I figured you might want a new wand," he offered as he looked at her worn wand that looked as if it might be a safety hazard soon. Harry already planned on giving the same amount of money to Ron for his best friend's birthday in a few months. It was also because he didn't know the eleven year old girl all the well in comparison to the males of the family, seeing as she barely ever talked to him before running in the opposite direction. It had been Gabriel who suggested the money for a new wand and Harry was forced to agree with him as it was the best idea that he had.

Ginny went bright red before giving him a shy, beaming smile and hid the money in her new trunk, which had come from her parents, right next to a new book on magical creatures (from Charlie), and story book that Harry couldn't see the title of (from Ron, Percy, and the Twins).. She was wearing a strange necklace from one of her friends and had a locket hung around her neck that was from Bill and held a picture of him and Charlie in it.

Harry was the last to open presents, being the second youngest and the guest (having insisted that Ginny go first). Ron had gotten him wizarding camera with a scrap book that came from the Twins and Percy. It seemed that they had all noticed his fondness of the pictures of his parents and had decided that he should be able to start his own album of his time at Hogwarts. He appreciated the thought and planned on taking picture of his friends as soon as he could and adding them to the book.

His Weasley sweater, made an emerald green that matched his eyes, was quickly put on. Bill and Charlie had both gotten him books. It seemed that the oldest Weasley children had noticed his interest in what they did and had gotten him a beginner's guide to runes and a book on dragons respectively. Harry blushed as he read the titles and thanks them as Gabriel hummed in interest at the books.

Harry might not know what Gabriel was but he had figured out rather quickly that his counterpart knew many, many things on nearly every subject so the interest that he was showing in something he probably already knew surprised Harry.

_'Spell casting in runes differs with every culture,'_ Gabriel explained. _'For all I know, they link together certain runes that other cultures don't even think of trying or they combine different runes of different cultures, which can do some awesome and strange things. Dragons come in many different breeds and shapes. I've never seen dragons like the ones that Hagrid had before which means that I don't know everything on them.'_

'What kind of dragons have you seen?' Harry wondered as picked one of his remaining gifts.

_'Let's just say that Muggle myths on dragons have some basis in fact and leave it at that,'_ Gabriel told him evasively. Harry nearly scowled in annoyance before remembering what he was doing and ripped open the paper. Inside was a rather pretty looking snow globe with what looked like Hogwarts in the middle of the swirling 'snow'. "Oh," Harry whispered as he studied the globe in fascination. It didn't give off the same glow that most magical objects did and Harry had to wonder where the person who had given him this had gotten it as there was no name on it to tell him who had sent it.

"What is that?" Ron asked from beside him and Harry showed him the snow globe. "They're called snow globes," Harry told his friend. "I think that's Hogwarts in the middle."

"Cool," Ron said as he continued to study the globe. Harry nodded happily and placed it on top of his other gifts once Ron handed it back to him. Happy that it was safe for now, he turned to his last two gifts in interest, one of them clearly marked from Hermione. Like Ron, he had also gotten a book though his was about Seekers instead of the Cannons. Grinning, he tucked the book away with his other new additions and picked up the last present, which was a tin of treacle tart from Hagrid and a card about wishing him a Mercy Christmas and telling him to visit when he got back because Hope and her foals were missing him.

The presents were quickly taken upstairs and put into his trunk while Ron piled his own presents onto his bed minus his broom. Grabbing his own broom, Harry and Ron raced downstairs and outside so as to get as much flying time in as possible, the twins right behind them with their own new brooms.

It was the best Christmas that Harry had ever had, far outweighing his Christmas the year before.

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><p><strong>This chapter was going to be up yesterday but, well, my internet disappeared. Like, completely vanished off the face of the earth with no hope of return. While it's not that surprising considering the router was being strange the last few weeks, it is annoying. The new router isn't all that better either as it takes forever for things to load.<strong>

**Yay for dial-up quality wifi! (No joke.) I would know, having had that most of my life until recent years.**

**Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter! We are officially diverging from Canon and very little of that happened in canon will appear (other than major plot events of the books, like the Basilisk and Diary, Sirius escaping, and other such events that happened in the series). Any questions that need you have, feel free to ask them and I'll do my best to explain!**

**You're all amazing! 122 followers and 93 favorites after exactly one week of having posted this story! **

**Please review and let me know what you think!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	11. Chapter 10

**This chapter took longer than usual do to the fact that I was busy digging out our cars and finding the driveway. My shoulder will never forgive me and I can't blame it. The snow pile from clearing only a fourth of the driveway is nearly as tall as I am. ONE FOURTH! If our neighbor hadn't done the bottom half with his snow blower, I might have killed something. Most likely my arms.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten<strong>

Returning to Hogwarts for the new year was harder than Harry had thought it would be. He had enjoyed his time at the Weasley's and he almost didn't want to leave the Burrow. It was only the thought of seeing Sol, Mystica, and Celestica again that had him on the train and back in the castle with little protest. It was worth it when he was greeted enthusiastically by the small family of four the very next day when he went down to Hagrid's.

Classes resumed as normal and Colin remained petrified in the Hospital Wing, still awaiting the mandrakes to be ready to make the potion that would unpetrify him. Harry had to wonder what his family thought of his condition, being muggles, and couldn't help but feel sorry for them. To think that this happened in their son's first year must have them worried and anxious as they waited for him to be back to normal. Harry also felt back for all the school work that Colin was going to be forced to make up.

Other than that, the days came and went, passing quickly as nothing new or terrible happened. Valentines day had Harry hiding from the little naked cupid men that were following him around, reciting both good and bad poetry, with Gabriel cackling madly in his head as he looked at them. '_Well,'_ Gabriel had said while still laughing. '_He's not that far off except for the whole poetry thing.'_

Harry still didn't know what he meant by that and was just grateful when the day ended and the pink that was covering the school disappeared.

It was near the end of February that it happened.

Harry had left the diary under his mattress, unable to dispose of it or bring himself to touch the filthy thing again, occasionally talking over what it had showed him about Hagrid with Ron and Hermione. He was heading back up to the dorm before heading to dinner only to be met with a nervous Neville waiting at the second year dorm entrance. Neville took one look at him and began trying to babble an explanation. "I just found it like that," the nervous second year said, round face shining with nervous worry.

Harry had no idea what he was talking about until he opened the door of the room and saw the chaos that awaited him. His mattress was on the floor, the contents of his truck joining it, and clothing was thrown around in a half-hearted way. It was only Harry's stuff that had been searched, the rest of the room still in the condition that it had been in that morning.

The most alarming part of the whole thing was that the dairy, which Harry had left under his mattress since the first night that he had it, was gone and there was no trace of where it might be. Harry didn't even feel bad with startling Neville as he, and Gabriel inside their minds, cursed.

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><p>It didn't take long for the attacks to start up again. Justin Finch-Fletchley was found petrified behind the ghostly body of Nearly Headless Nick, who was also seemingly petrified as well which sent the school into a nervous panic.<p>

After all, what could harm a ghost? They were already dead!

Suddenly, the whole school was on red alert, everyone looking around corners and never going anywhere in the castle alone. Ginny Weasley, who had looked to be getting less pale and more open than she was when she'd first arrived at Hogwarts, also seemed to curl in on herself and became more and more reclusive as the days after the newest attack passed.

She wasn't the only one negatively affected by the attack as Hufflepuff was suddenly just as moody and depressed as Gryffindor now that one of their own had been attacked. Harry couldn't really feel sorry for them as none of them had reacted beyond acknowledgement when Colin had been petrified and Mrs. Norris had fallen victim to the monsters odd appearances.

_'Our past life read too many comics,'_ Gabriel complained._ 'You're becoming dramatic.'_

Harry had finally managed to get to his fourth past life in his dreams, having lived to be ninety years old in his third life and it had taken months rather than weeks to reabsorb the memories. It was strange, Harry mused as he watched everyone around him, how much older those memories made him feel and how childish he felt sometimes. It was almost as if he was becoming uncomfortable in his own skin, something that he had never been before.

_'Just think of how I feel,'_ Gabriel said, not even having to bother looking at his human self's thoughts to know what he was thinking. _'I'm actually memories trapped in the mind of myself because we died and were reborn hundreds of times!'_

That was strange, Harry acknowledged with a hidden grimace. Even with the increased knowledge his newer memories gave him, Harry's head still hurt when he remembered that the original version of him died and because of it, they were reborn hundreds of times until he regained all his memories by touching a tree, of all things, and now those memories had been given form and could interact with him as he slowly regained the newer memories that it had been storing. 'What is our life?' Harry groaned as his head gave an unappreciative throb at his thought process. 'Not only do we have to deal with this but in all of the memories I've regained, we die fighting something. Why was a ninety year old man fighting a burglar anyways? Were we just stupid?'

_'No, we knew that we would die doing that,'_ Gabriel reminded him. _'Self-preservation apparently goes right out the window the older we get, though.'_

Harry couldn't really argue as three lives later and he was still dying in the defense of someone or something, whether it was Hogwarts, family, or a random stranger. 'There does seem to be a theme,' he agreed hesitantly.

"Harry!" Hermione's voice cut into his silent conversation and Harry was startled as he turned to look at her with wide eyes. Ron was also looking at him oddly from where he sat next to them in the common room.

"Sorry," he apologized. "What were you saying?"

Hermione huffed in annoyance. "I was trying to get your attention! Honestly, sometimes it's like talking to a wall with how often you listen anymore!"

He hadn't realized that he was being obvious when talking to Gabriel. Both Ron and Hermione were looking at him, waiting for an explanation and it briefly crossed his mind that he could tell them. This was the moment where he could tell them about Hope, her three foals, and the tree that held the memories of all his past lives. He could tell them about his memories given conscience inside his head and he could tell them of the abilities that he was slowly regaining as he watched more and more of his old memories. The magical aura's that surround the castle, magical objects, and the students and staff were slowly becoming more and more defined as time went on, although Gabriel assured him that what he was seeing now was nothing compared to what their full vision scope was.

However, Harry found that he didn't want to tell them. Gabriel wasn't some deep dark secret, he was Harry. Older and wiser, yeah, but he was still Harry and the black haired second year didn't see Ron and Hermione discussing the deep and interwoven aspects of themselves to him. So Harry just shrugged. "I just wish that we could have one year where nothing dangerous happens at Hogwarts."

Hermione's face morphed into sympathetic longing. "It does seem like this is becoming a theme," she said.

_'It better not,'_ Gabriel grumbled. _'The last thing we need is to be nearly killed every year on top of being separated and basically powerless.'_

This was powerless? Harry wondered as he glanced at the glowing orange, blue, and green fire in the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room. Last year, it had only looked like normal fire would but now that he looked at it, Harry could see to leftover color of the spell that had produced the flames. He was still trying to learn the different colors of each spell but the fact that, without goggles that were designed and layered with charms, he could easily see the magical residue all around him.

Yet when he looked at his own skin, besides having it glow just a tad brighter than his year mates, Harry only saw a mix of green magic swirling there. 'Why is that?' he asked.

_'It's because our Grace isn't magic,'_ Gabriel answered, once again knowing exactly what he was asking._ 'Grace, the power that is threatening to tear us apart, is a completely different power source than magic. Magic is derived from the elements and the earth but Grace comes from elsewhere, a source which is much more powerful than magic could ever hope to be.'_

'Is that why Bill didn't say anything about me being different from the others? I thought for sure that he would see some sort of indication of your presence.' It had been bugging Harry since the eldest Weasley had insisted on wearing his goggles as long as he could.

_'If he had, we would have known,'_ Gabriel said a bit darkly._ 'Magic goggles or not, Grace cannot be seen the human eye without consequences.'_

The way that Gabriel said 'consequences' made Harry shudder and he was suddenly glad that Bill had been unable to tell that Harry was different from them. From what he could tell, the Weasley's didn't deserve whatever horrible consequence would befall them if they look at his Grace. _'No,'_ Gabriel agreed, pleased at Harry's claim on their Grace. It was the first time Harry hadn't referred to something that was added after they had recombined as 'their' instead of 'his'. He wasn't going to point it out, however, and could only hope that this meant that his human counterpart was becoming more accepting of who he was. _'They don't.'_

And they didn't. As a Trickster, Gabriel had become adept at reading the human soul. Sure, most angels could tell what a person was with just a glance but Gabriel had learned to go deeper than that. Every hidden desire, every dark secret that they never wanted to see the light of day, and everything they had ever done and why they had done it. Usually it was only souls that were destined for Hell that he ended up killing and the souls that weren't, well, they learned a valuable lesson...most of the time, anyways.

"Harry!" Hermione snapped once again as Harry drifted off into thought. The black haired boy startled at her irate tone and Ron's scowl ignored the other boy. Harry grimaced, already anticipating another anger rant as Ron's temper managed to get the best of him.

Gabriel remained silent.

* * *

><p>The first Quidditch game of Gryffindor versus Slytherin in the new year was soon on them, Hermione having headed off to the library to do some more research on the monster. "I have a good idea about what it is," she had said triumphantly that morning, a stack of papers and books in her arms before she had hurried off after breakfast. Harry didn't protest her leaving, knowing that she would be far happier in the library than she would be at the game.<p>

Oliver had been thanking him nonstop since the first Quidditch practice they had during the new term and Harry found that the older Gryffindor was still thanking him every five minutes. It was to the point that the rest of the team was just letting their captain express their thanks (for Harry had gotten the rest of them new brooms as well) and laughed at Harry's increasingly homicidal gaze. Oliver opened up the before gaming meeting by, once again, expressing his thanks to Harry.

"Better stop doing that, Oliver," Fred said as he looked at Harry's developing twitch.

"Harry here might just curse you," George added, grinning madly as the black haired boy turned his glare to them.

They were just heading out to the pitch to meet to opposing team when Professor McGonagall came flying into the pitch in a run. "This game is canceled!" she yelled to the stunned silence of the rest of the school. "All students will return to their common rooms...there has been a double attack."

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley's," she addressed Harry, the Twins, and Ron who had made his way from the pitch to walk up with Harry. "You may want to come with me."

They did, following the grim Professor up to the school and down to the Hospital Wing. "This might be hard," she warned them as she opened the door. "But I'm afraid that they were found together."

Hermione laid stiff on the bed, eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling, glazed and her expression frightened. Harry choked back a sob when the second victim was revealed to be Percy Weasley, his eyes just as unseeing as hers. "She was found holding this," the Professor told them, holding out a mirror. "It seems that Mr. Weasley was escorting her from the library. Do you know what it means?"

Harry looked at the mirror blankly and shook his head, numb as he looked at Ron and the Twins have a complete breakdown. Despite appearances, the Twins didn't actually dislike their brother and Harry imagined seeing him lying there as if dead was devastating. Seeing Hermione there was already hard enough and Gabriel was raging and swearing in their mind, promising painful retribution when they found out who had dared attack _their_ friend.

Harry found that he rather agreed with the dark and violent threats, sitting down heavily in the chair next to her bed, Ron taking the chair between the two beds as the Twins just stared at their petrified brother in silence. Her words from this morning came back to him. "I have a good idea about what it is." What had she discovered that she had approached Percy to escort her? Was that why she had been attacked? Had she figured out what the monster was and the Slytherin Heir had decided to eliminate her?

_'It doesn't matter,'_ Gabriel nearly howled in anger._ 'We will take them down and force them to pay either way!'_

'Yes,' Harry thought as he studied the fear on Hermione's face. 'We will.'

For Hermione, they were going to make the monster shudder in fear and the Slytherin Heir wish that he had never been born.

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><p><strong>This chapter isn't that long as, well, that was the best way I could find to leave it off without having in unnecessarily long. Second year is wrapping up as Harry and Gabriel deal with their increasingly odd situation as well as Hermione and Percy's petrification. <strong>

**Hermione and Ron are beginning to notice Harry's random zoning out as he talks to 'Gabriel'. Harry also is seemingly keeping Gabriel a secret, even though he justifies it as being none of their business as 'Gabriel' is just another part of Harry. 'Gabriel' is also taking on Harry's protectiveness of his friends. Tom better watch out because even a depowered Archangel isn't someone you should piss off! XD**

**Updates might start to come after longer periods of time due to the increasingly annoying place called 'school'. Being a senior sometimes sucks. **

**You're all amazing! I honestly didn't think that this story would get as popular as it has. We're nearing only two weeks since I first posted this and I've already had 41 reviews, 108 favorites, and 147 followers! This is quickly becoming one of my most popular fics! **

**As always, feel free to ask any questions you have and I will answer to the best of my ability. **

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	12. Chapter 11

**Well, this took longer than I wanted it to. I hope you all enjoy the chapter! Second year is nearly over and the fight between Gabriel!Harry and the Basilisk is almost here.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eleven<strong>

Things didn't get any better from there. Hermione's attack was followed by the arrival of the Minister and Lucius Malfoy as they arrested Hagrid and dismissed Dumbledore as headmaster. Harry had only found out about it as he had snuck down to the cabin in order to ask Hagrid about the Chamber and the spider that the idiots had thought was the Chamber's Monster. Harry had looked into the girls' death and no venom had been found in her system which meant that it was impossible for the spider to have killed her and Harry was a little disappointed about the lack of concrete evidence that the Ministry had used to prosecute Hagrid when he was only thirteen.

When the Ministry came to take Hagrid away just so they could be seen 'doing something', Harry had no doubts that any inquiries of how the girls died had been shushed up so that they could appear to have taken care of the problem. Hagrid's little tidbit given about following the spiders paid off as he was taken away by the Ministry,, however, paid off.. With Hope as his guide, the unicorn had led Harry into one of the darker parts of the Forbidden Forest that he had yet to see in their outings. Hope had made sure that her foals were safe with their heard before escorting him and Harry had to wonder just what they were going to visit that had the usually brave unicorn so antsy.

The answer was Acromantula, giant spiders that frankly scared the hell out of him and had Gabriel yelping at the sight of them. '_How the hell did those things get that big?!'_ Gabriel hissed as spiders nearly as big as Hope surrounded them from all sides. Hope whinnied nervously as they walked just a tad too close to the unicorn. Harry glared at the spider until it back off a bit, pleased with itself as it chattered happily. Harry started when he understood the gloating the acromantula was doing. 'We can speak spider?'

Gabriel chuckled. _'Not necessarily. Out vocal cords aren't designed for actually speaking the spider's language however we can understand them. It's a perk of being us,'_ he added in, not elaborating on what he meant. Gabriel was of the opinion that it was still a bit too early to tell Harry about what they were; what twelve year old is going to believe that they're an Archangel? Harry's initial rejection of what they were when he eventually found out would cause nearly as much problems as his soul rejecting their Grace was. Gabriel wanted their Grace to be more interwoven than it was before Harry found out what they were. Harry was interrupted before he could ask anymore questions.

"Who dares to disturb me?" A voice rasped from what looked liked giant blankets of cobweb. Six beady eyes blinked open yet did not settle on them as the largest acromantula that Harry had seen so far resettled. Strangely enough, the acromantula was speaking Queen's English.

Another spider answered from further into the small army of them. "Man!" It chanted, joined by the others around it.

"Hagrid?" the apparent leader of the spider army ('Again,' Gabriel sighed. 'Far too many comic books.') but Harry interrupted before any of them could reply.

"No," he said loudly, relishing at the shocked silence that followed. Harry doubted that it was everyday a lowly human spoke out of turn towards them. Hope snorted, digging her hooves into the ground as she glared at the surrounding acromantula in challenge.

"You are the boy who merged with the Great Tree and shook the forest," Aragog said raspily and turned his head in the direction of Harry. The black haired boy was stunned to see that the giant spider was blind, his eyes a telling milky-white. "Your unicorn companion walks besides you, a great risk as my children surround you."

Hope putted her hooves and snorted menacingly at the surrounding smaller acromantula. They backed off warily, chattering in annoyance as they went. "What have you come to ask of Aragog, Great Tree Child?"

_'Is that what they call us?'_ Gabriel snickered inside their head._ 'Well, I guess it is better than the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense that the Wizarding World has going on.'_

Harry hummed in agreement before answering the question that the question that Aragog (_'Arachnid Leader,'_ Gabriel mumbled as he translated that Greek 'agog' of the word. _''Ar' for Arachnid and 'agog' for leader.'_). "We were sent by Hagrid," Harry answered, the 'we' rolling off his tongue more easily that 'I' would have. "He told us to follow the spiders to find out more about the Chamber of Secrets."

Aragog snarled, giant legs moving in agitation. "That foul home of that beast?" he snarled, his raspy voice seemingly raising in decibel on each word. "Even here, miles from that school, we can feel its presence lurking."

"You know what the monster is?" Harry asked eagerly as the acromantula paused.

"We do not speak its name!" Aragog all but yelled. "It is death to us!"

"Then I was right," he said in satisfaction. "You aren't the Slytherin monster."

Aragog paused, considering him in silence as what Harry now knew were his children settled down in their nests. "No I am not," the spider finally said. "Yet that school believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. Hagrid was expelled for hiding me and I was able to flee into these woods as they attempted to capture me."

"So Hagrid was expelled after he was accused of opening the chamber," Harry mumbled, nodding to himself. He had wondered about what the Ground's Keeper could have possibly done that would have gotten him expelled since the he had met the man almost two years ago. It made sense that they would blame Hagrid for the death; acromantula were rather dangerous creatures that normally had no qualms about killing. Aragog seemed to only stay his hand in killing Harry due to the small fact that Gabriel, while he was still in the tree, had placed a protection on the forest that was still in play even now, nearly a year after Gabriel had left the tree.

_'I do good work,'_ Gabriel said smugly. _'It'll be a long time before that protection fades.'_

'Why did you put it up?' Harry asked curiously. Sure, he knew that his counterpart was rather attached to the tree he had been in for who knew how long and he knew that Gabriel adorned their visits in the forest as much as he did but that didn't explain why the forest seemed to thrum with a familiar bright white that Harry had only seen when he had first met Gabriel.

_'The inhabitants needed protection,'_ Gabriel said and Harry got the distinct feeling that his counterpart was embarrassed. _'They had kept people away from my tree for hundreds of years so when settlers began to kill them off, I had to do something...'_

'And you call me too caring,' Harry snickered at him silently. It was nice to know that for all the rather rude things Gabriel said or their seemingly great differences in personality (which was odd because how was it possible to be a different person than himself?) Gabriel still had a bit of compassion hidden away. He doubted that any of the forest's inhabitants knew just how protective their 'Great Tree' was of them.

"They believed that it was I who slayed the girl that died," Aragog continued as if Harry tuned back into the conversation. "Even though the girl was found in a bathroom far from the broom cupboard that Hagrid raised me in. He is a good friend to us; even now he brings us food and it was he would brought me my wife, Mosag, and allowed me to have my children."

Aragog's children began chattering again, their large pincers clicking together in excitement. Yet there was something in what Aragog said that gave him pause. "Did you say that she was killed in a bathroom?" Harry asked, eyes narrowed in thought. Gabriel seemed to be thinking on overdrive as well, thought swirling around as he tried to connect the dots that had presented themselves.

"Yes," Aragog confirmed. "I have answered your question, Great Tree Child and now I ask that you leave. My children become antsy with your stay and I fear even the protection your Tree has offered us will not stay their hunger for long."

It was true. Aragog's children were looking at them in a way that spoke uncomfortably of how much they wanted to eat them. Nodding to Hope, he bid the great spider a goodbye and began the walk back towards the castle. It wasn't the long talk that Harry was hoping for but he had gotten a crucial bit of information from the short talk that would help him in his quest to rip the monster to shreds.

_'A bathroom, huh?'_ Gabriel said in a gleeful cackle as they walked through darkened trees. _'Well, it looks like dear old Myrtle might have a use after all.'_

* * *

><p>Speaking with Myrtle was harder than it should have been. Having filled Ron in on what he had learned (leaving out the involvement of Hope and Aragog's willingness to help him based on the sole fact that he was part of the 'Great Tree'). The redhead was, for once, pleased at being left out of the action. "I bloody hate spiders," he had explained when Harry had given him an odd look at his sigh of relief. "Fred and George transfigured my teddy bear into one when I was little. I had nightmares for months!"<p>

That was all that surprising, in retrospect, and it was even less surprising when the Twins had shown up and demanded to be let in out whatever it was they had found out. It seems that the two had noticed that most everything that happened in the castle found its way to them at some point or another. Harry had easily complied, knowing that with four people trying to interrogate the annoying ghost that was Moaning Myrtle, they would get the information they needed all that much faster.

Or that was the plan. The professor's, on the other hand, seemed determined to unknowingly thwart them as it was now required (after yet another attack in which a Ravenclaw and Slytherin prefect were finally petrified) to be escorted everywhere by a member of the staff. That meant that the teachers were literally everywhere in the school watching their every move. Even the portraits were on red alert and reported any and everyone that so much as stepped a toe out of line. It was because of this that the Twins were now in detention for the rest of the year.

The first time that Harry and Ron managed to get away after a defense class it was halfway through May and the school year was beginning to draw to a close. Harry hadn't even been able to visit Hope or her foals since he had met with Aragog! So when the opportunity to finally payback the bastard that had attacked Hermione and that had gotten Hagrid thrown into jail opened up, Harry grabbed Ron and jumped on it.

Just for McGonagall to show up in time to catch them without a teacher. "And where do you to think you're going?" she had snapped as they attempted to sneak down a hallway without being seen.

Ron paled and seemed to freeze as she stared at them. Harry, on the other hand, finally managed to produce a seamless lie without the help of Gabriel. "We were going to see Hermione," he mumbled, blushing and looking down as the strict Professor froze when she made out his answer. "It's just...we haven't seen her in forever and..." he trailed off, looking up to see her face.

_'Finally!'_ Gabriel cheered in their head. _'It's about time you put those lying skills to use! Now if only we could work on using it in a more selfish way...'_

Harry was too busy staring at a teary eyed Professor McGonagall to snark back at his memories (that would never be not weird). It was the first time that he had ever seen the Transfiguration Professor anything other than amused or stern and he almost felt bad for lying to her. 'No!' Gabriel scolded. 'Bad me! Bad! We do not feel bad about lying to get out of trouble! Bad!'

"Oh well," she stuttered, flustered before finally coming to a decision. "Go ahead then. Tell Poppy that you have my permission and I'll let Professor Sprout know where you are." She waved them along, sniffing as she turned to presumably go tell the Herbology teacher that they weren't coming to class.

There was only one problem with going to see Hermione: they couldn't go talk to Myrtle now and Professor McGonagall would expect to hear that they were in the Hospital Wing for the entirety of Herbology. Even if she didn't check, Madam Pomfrey wouldn't just let them leave without escorting them to the classroom which was rather far away from where they wanted to go.

Looking at Hermione made him want to cry. It was heartbreaking to see her so still and the look of fear that was stuck on her face made him feel slightly violent, something that he hadn't felt before but Gabriel seemed to be familiar with._ 'Being pissed isn't all that uncommon,'_ Gabriel reminded him and Harry remembered a few snippets of memories where he, in another life, had experienced a similar emotion.

This seemed different, however, more raw than it had when he slept. Maybe that was because he was still slightly detached from the situation when he was asleep or maybe it was because of the simple fact that Hermione might not be this way if he had insisted that she wait to do the research until they could all help. If Harry hadn't been distracted by the Quidditch game, she might not be lying there on the bed like she was.

_'Stop those thoughts right this minute!'_ Gabriel snapped. It seemed that he had enough of Harry's misery over Hermione's fate. _'We are not responsible for whatever that hell the thing that attacked Hermione! We are the ones that are going to make it wish that it had never existed for doing so! Stop moping and start trying to figure out a way that we can end this!'_

It wasn't the best motivational speech in the world and Harry knew that Gabriel hadn't meant for it to be. He had meant for it to wake Harry up and the twelve year old wizard knew that his counterpart was right. Hermione being petrified wasn't their fault; it was the Heir of Slytherin's fault and it was his and Gabriel's job to make them pay for it. To stop them before anymore of the students ended up in the hospital wing.

Reaching out to grab Hermione's hand, Harry started when instead of cold skin he found himself touching parchment. "What?" he mumbled, catching Ron's attention. The redhead glanced at him questioningly but Harry ignored him in favor of slowly prying the parchment that was clenched in Hermione's hands out of its stiff confinement without alerting Madam Pomfrey to his discovery. After a few minutes of careful struggle, the parchment came free and Harry uncurled it as quickly as possible.

He had to stop himself for cursing at the title of the page while Gabriel fell into a horrified silence as they read. "Basilisk," he breathed and Ron seemed to freeze to his own seat next to Harry. The black haired wizard moved the parchment in a way that Ron could read as well and Harry continued on down the torn paper which seemed to have been removed from a library book. 'Spiders flee before it,' he said to Gabriel silently. 'It fits.'

_'We've been lucky.'_ Gabriel answered gravely. _'It seems that none of the petrified victims have looked the basilisk in the eyes or else it would be a vastly different story. They're alive before they only saw the reflection of its gaze and because the basilisk failed to kill them, they weren't devoured as its meal. No creature will eat something that its effects have failed to work on in case that they might poison it.'_

Harry felt himself pale as the ramifications of Hermione's handwritten note at the bottom set in. 'It's in the plumbing!' he shouted to Gabriel in horror. 'That's why no one has seen it moving around?!'

_'And why Myrtle died in a bathroom. There's most likely an exit to the Chamber of Secrets in there.'_ Gabriel added and Harry could feel their combined thoughts swirling.

'We need to talk to her tonight,' Harry said in certainty, repeating his thoughts to Ron aloud. The redhead seemed to be growing paler and paler as Harry talked.

_'Tonight.'_ Gabriel agreed.

* * *

><p>It turned out that they had picked the best possible time to figure out what was petrifying students. Listening to the teachers talk right outside Myrtle's bathroom where a new message had appeared was the deciding point in how their night was going to end. "Ginny," Ron moaned silently next to them and Harry had to admit to being shocked that his best friend wasn't crying. This was the second of his siblings to fall victim to Slytherin's Heir and Ginny was in much more danger than Percy was.<p>

Gabriel was also suspicious of the Heir's choice in victims._ 'Ginny was unusually pale during the first half of the year. She seemed to cry when the roosters were killed and Colin's hospitalization nearly crushed her. That diary tried to leech off of us when we first found it and I remember Ginny having a diary in the beginning of the year...'_

'She got it after Diagon Alley,' Harry frowned in thought and was horrified when a black book appeared in his memories of Ginny as they made their way to the Platform. "Oh no," Harry whispered.

"'Oh no'?" Ron asked incredibly. "That's all you have to say!"

Harry interrupted before his friend could get anymore riled up. "Ginny had the diary," he hissed urgently. "She must have gotten it in Diagon Alley but she has the diary. The one that when it was stolen immediately had new attacks popping up!"

Ron seemed to be nearly ghost pale now and he let out a horrified whimper. "Ginny," he moaned silently. Harry nodded and threw the cloak that was hiding them off and slipped it inside his pockets after folding it up.

"We need to hurry before the professor's come back," Harry said as he dragged his friend along into the girls bathroom where Myrtle could be heard sobbing.

"What do you want!" the girl shrieked seemingly forgetting that she had been afraid of Harry prior to this.

Ron looked about ready to yell back but Harry stopped him. "To ask you how you died," he said cautiously. In his experience, dying hurt and telling people about it wasn't on his to do list anytime soon and it would be bad if Myrtle reacted badly and left before they could find out.

The ghost didn't look upset and almost seemed flattered that Harry had asked. "Oh it was horrible," she said gleefully. "Olive Hornby had made fun of my hair that day and I had locked myself in here to cry."

"The door opened and I shouted 'Go away!'" Myrtle continued, ignoring Harry and Ron's exchanged looks of incredulous. "I thought they had gone when I heard hissing. It was a boy's voice so I opened the door to have a good yell at him...and then I died."

"Just like that?" Ron asked in shock, looking around warily.

"Do you remember anything else?" Harry asked hurriedly. They probably didn't have much time before the professor's remember who Myrtle was and he wanted to already be looking for Ginny by then. No offense to their professor's but after last year and their pathetic attempt to protect the stone from Voldemort and not even noticing that Quirrell was acting strange (except Snape, who was apparently ignored) Harry didn't really trust them to save Ginny in time.

"Big round yellow eyes," she said after thinking for a moment. "Over there."

She was pointing at the sink. Harry looked at Ron before making his way over to the sinks unusable faucet and traced the small snakes that were carved into the metal of the faucet. "This is it!" Harry called to the redhead. Ron shook himself and moved over to Harry's side.

"How do we get in?" Ron asked mournfully a few attempts of getting it opened later.

"How should I know?" Harry snapped, aggravated and starting to get pissed. They had been at this for twenty minutes and it seemed that his distrust of the staff was right as none of them had shown up in that time to question Myrtle. In fifty years, the only witness to the murder of one of Hogwarts students and no one had ever questioned her to find out what had killed her. This would never have happened in the Wizarding World was incompetent.

"Why won't you just _open!_" Harry yelled in anger, not noticing as Ron jerked back in shock. The sink gave a shuddering jerk before it began to move, slowly uncovering a giant hole.

"You're a parselmouth?!" Ron gaped, looking between both the floor and Harry as if he wasn't sure what to do next.

"I'm a what?" Harry asked, staring at the revealed entrance in shock. 'How'd I do that?'

_'Remember how you asked me if we could speak spider and I told you that our voices weren't capable of it?'_ Gabriel asked, also in shock. _'Well we can apparently speak snake.'_

"You can speak to snakes!" Ron elaborated rather unnecessarily as Harry had gotten the answer from Gabriel "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Do I look like I knew?" Harry asked sarcastically before shaking his head. "We don't have time for this. We need to get to Ginny and you can explain about parseltongue when we get back." Looking at the revealed entrance to the Chamber, Harry stepped forward and jumped, Ron not far behind him judging from the redhead's screaming as they fell.

Unlike last year where they had landed on Devil's Snare (Gabriel seemed to choke before laughing uproariously) a metal pipe supported their weight as they slid down farther than Harry thought the dungeons of the school were located. Bones, instead of a deadly plant, cushioned their fall and Harry whipped out his wand as quickly as he could while Ron landed next to him.

"Harry," Ron whimpered as he pointed, light filling the cavern from Harry's wand. Said wizard turned to look and paled at what look to be a fifty foot long snake's skin.

_'Great,'_ Gabriel remarked silently with derision. _'It had to be an ancient basilisk, didn't it? It couldn't have been a baby, no that's too easy! It had to be over a thousand years old!'_

Harry agreed with Gabriel's annoyance as he surveyed the area. The Chamber looked off to him, the magic of Hogwarts seemingly glowing brighter than Harry had ever seen it. Gabriel was also studying the magic curiously. "We need to find Ginny now," Harry whispered, standing. "Get your wand out," he instructed.

Ron did so only to moan in horror. The wand, having already been old and untaken care of, had withstood far too much during their fall and had snapped in half. Harry looked at the broken wand as Gabriel cursed every known deity in the world. It was obvious that Ron would be of no help with his wand destroyed. "Yell for help," Harry told him after thinking it over. "The professor's will look for us eventually and hopefully they'll hear you."

Ron gave an acknowledging nod before yelling upwards a mix of words that mostly consisted of 'we're down here'. He paused as Harry went to continue onwards, hugging the black haired second year before he could go any further.

"If...if it's too late," Ron seemed to stuttered, tearing up. "If Ginny's already...just get out of there. Mum wouldn't forgive you if you died trying to save her." The unsaid 'neither would I' made Harry hug the redhead back just as tightly as Ron was hugging him.

"I will," he promised before beginning his journey into the depths of the Chamber. Climbing over the snake's skin, Harry felt Gabriel ready himself in the back of their minds.

_'We've got a promise to keep,' _Gabriel said viciously. _'He'll pay for hurting Hermione and the other's.'_

'And he better hope that Ginny is alive,' Harry added, eyes narrowed.

It was time to end this nightmare, once and for all.

* * *

><p><strong>Into the Chamber they go! Sorry for how long this took but, well, there were so many ways that I could have taken the story after that last chapter and after writing three different versions of this, I finally decided that this one out of them. <strong>

**Gabriel and Harry are developing more and more as time goes on and their different aspects as well as their similar ones are beginning to show themselves. The talk with Aragog isn't as good as I'd have liked it to be but it researching more on his character, it became obvious that he's loyal to Hagrid, his children, and the forest only. Harry being part of the forest, as Gabriel in his tree had extended a protection over the forest and the surrounding area, is why Aragog didn't allow his children to eat him where as he did in the book. Gabriel's protection over the forest will be further discussed in later chapters. Harry was already aware of the protection after his numerous visits into the forest but he has yet to find out what it all does.**

**That ending scene between Ron and Harry hurt to write. Ron in the books is hot-headed and has a fierce temper but he's also caring and brave. The fact that he can't help Harry due to his wand being broken and knowing that Harry could die trying to save Ron's sister is crushing. On one hand, he would be devastated if Ginny died and on another, he doesn't know what he would do if both Harry and Ginny died while he stood helplessly by. It's the beginning of his character developing just that much further into who I think he could be. In the books, it was almost like Ron never really took the fact that they could die seriously so I'm trying to give him a bit more of a realistic perspective. **

**Fred and George are fun to write and it always bothered me that they had little to no character growth until the seventh book. Sure, I love them but there's a difference between growing as a character and showing up now and then to cause mayhem in the books. They appear even less in the movies. With the Marauder's Map in their possession, I always found it odd that they never involved themselves in the happenings of the castles, especially since Ron was usually in the middle of the danger and in the second book, where Ginny had been kidnapped. That being said, they're going to have much bigger parts in this story than the books series.**

**I think that's all that I wanted to clarify for now but as always, feel free to ask any and every question you have and I'll do my best to answer.**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	13. Chapter 12

"_Parseltongue_"

_'Gabriel talking'_

'Harry talking'

**The fight with the Basilisk is here!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twelve<strong>

The Chamber of Secrets was just as dark and disgusting as Harry had expected it to be. Underneath the thousand years worth of decay had left the Chamber in its current state but Harry could see, beneath it all, the remnants of what the Chamber used to be. He was surprised to see that there had once been benches around the walls and he could see the remains of picture frames hidden underneath the bones of dead animals that were most likely left by the Basilisk.

'This doesn't look like a death chamber that was built to purge the school of muggleborns,' Harry observed.

_'No,'_ Gabriel agreed. _'This looks more like a sanctuary that's fallen into decay. I'm beginning to think that we don't know everything about who Salazar Slytherin was.'_

'Everyone agrees that he was prejudiced against muggleborns,' Harry argued but he had his own suspicions that were whispering in the back of his head. 'How could it be a widely accepted fact if it doesn't have some truth to it.'

_'I have a feeling that truths in the Wizarding World have a lot less fact than they would care to admit,'_ Gabriel explained. _'If I'm correct about the time period that they lived in, Slytherin would have been right to be wary of muggleborns. They were burning witches a thousand years ago and I doubt that muggleborns always accepted the fact that they were born with magic.'_

'So they could have led the Witch Hunters here,' Harry realized and the idea of a sanctuary underneath the school made that much more sense. 'If their parents happened to be Witch Hunters, the entire population of Hogwarts could be put to risk.'

_'Thus a Chamber hidden in the school where only someone from a magical bloodline could access and a guard that could not be reasoned with by muggles.'_ Gabriel concluded sounding both smug and sad at the same time.

'Then how did we all forget? History of Magic doesn't even really cover the Witch Hunts all that well. It's like the people just forgot about the danger.' It didn't make any sense. Sure, History was written by the victor but that shouldn't be able to cause an entire magical society to forget the dangers that were present in different time periods, not to mention the whole society conveniently forgetting that part of history.

_'I don't know but we've more important matters to deal with,'_ Gabriel reminded him._ 'Whether or not the chamber was originally supposed to be the last defense of the school doesn't matter when the Slytherin Heir is using the original magicks to attack the school from within. It doesn't seem to matter to him whether or not his victims are muggleborn or halfbloods or even purebloods, seeing as Percy was attacked as well and the Weasley's are a pureblood family.'_

Harry didn't have a chance to respond, having come to the end of the long tunnel only to be faced with a brass door blocking his way. 'Focus on the snakes,' Gabriel suggested as Harry studied the snakes that covered the brass door. 'If it's anything like the entrance we came in, then the password will be in snake. Last time we spoke it, we were looking at a snake and before that, at the zoo we talked to the snake before we freed it.'

Harry nodded and looked at the snakes that held the brass door closed. "Open," he said, english coming out instead of the desired parseltongue. Frowning in annoyance he tried again with the same result. Eyes narrowing, Harry made sure to focus of the snake closest to him and tried a third time.

"_Open_!" He snapped, hissing coming out instead of English. The snakes began to move, receding as a smaller snake crawled past where their heads had been. With a creak that made Harry think the door was rusted shut, the rounded entrance opened as the brass door swung passed him.

_'There, you see?'_ Gabriel, if he had had a face, would have been grinning. The memory of the Archangel loved being right, probably just as much as he had when he had been more than just memories.

Harry ignored the cheerful voice and stepped into the what was most likely the actual Chamber of Secrets and home to the Basilisk.

If Harry thought that the sanctuary outside had once been beautiful, it had nothing on the inside of what he suspected was the actual Chamber. Giant carved snakes stood at the end of a long stone floor, all of it covered with green mildew, the original colors lost to time. A statue of a man that was probably Salazar Slytherin stood proudly in the center of the room and Harry thought that it most likely had once been just as grand and magnificent as the Great Hall was in its glory days because even now, a thousand years later, it was still awe inspiring to look at.

He discontinued studying his surrounding in favor of Ginny, who was lying sprawled on the floor not far from the statue in the center. With water surrounding her and covering most of the cavern they were in, Harry hoped that she hadn't been there long as if she was injured, catching cold or pneumonia would do her no good. 'Then stop staring at her and go check!' Gabriel scolded, sounding more than a bit annoyed. Harry didn't blame him, he'd be annoyed to if he was in Gabriel's situation (which he was, in a strange, still mind breaking, way).

Harry rushed over to Ginny's fallen figure, setting his wand down as Gabriel instructed him on how to check for a pulse. He wasn't the only one relieved when he found a steady pulse as his fingers wrapped around her wrist. _'That's good,'_ Gabriel said and Harry could relief in his voice. _'She's just unconscious. Madam Pomfrey should be able to fix her up as soon as we get out of here.'_

Harry nodded, reaching for his wand...except that it wasn't there, his hand meeting cold stone instead of a familiar wood. "She won't wake," a voice, familiar in a horrible and gut-wretching way, spoke from behind them. Harry turned around, standing as he did so and came face to face with Tom Riddle, twirling Harry's wand in the middle of his fingers.

"Tom Riddle," Harry said easily and everything made that much more sense. The diary was Tom's and he had been the one that had implicated Hagrid in the opening of the Chamber of Secrets when it had opened fifty years ago. "So you're behind the attacks." It wasn't a question and he could feel Gabriel seething within him, just as pissed as he was.

"Oh?" Riddle cocked his head to the side, he face a perfect mask of innocence but Harry could see the darkness that was surrounding him, radiating from the inside out.

_'Don't underestimate him,'_ Gabriel warned. _'He might have the mind of a fifteen year old but remember, he's been in that book for fifty years. We won't know what kind of memories he has of that time or what he's learned, not to mention that he now has our wand.'_

'So he could be more dangerous than he already was at fifteen,' Harry concluded. 'Not to mention the darkness that's surrounding him.'

Gabriel was silent for a moment before he began cursing. _'I can't believe I didn't notice it before!'_ Gabriel said with a snarl._ 'That diary just became much more interesting and dangerous. He isn't a memory but a soul fragment.'_

Harry didn't respond as Riddle seemed to have noticed his inattentiveness to him and had pointed the Holly wand that wasn't even his at Harry. "You're smart," Riddle said, seemingly annoyed at having to compliment him. "You seemed to have already figured out who I am; that's more than I can say for the incompetent people at the Ministry. They honestly believed that half-breed was the Heir of Slytherin?" Riddle scoffed and began smirking at Harry, studying him with teal eyes that seemed to be attempting to see into the deepest part of Harry's soul.

"Harry Potter," he said and Harry started at the sudden use of his name. "I must say, you've surpassed my expectations. Finding the Chamber and even managing to access it! It took me until my fifth year to find this Chamber, hidden as it was in the girls bathroom. Of course, my expectations were already high."

Harry had a bad feeling about this, almost as if he had met Tom Riddle before. There was a familiar way to how he talked and the look in his eyes reminded Harry of another person that he had met the year before. "You had expectations?" he asked as Gabriel began trying to figure out just how a soul fragment had ended up in a diary.

Riddle gave him a secretive smile, his teals eyes seeming to darken as he looked over. "A baby," he began, eyes narrowing. "Manages to defeat the greatest wizard in the world, the only one to ever survive the Killing Curse in the history of its creation. I'd be a fool to not have had expectations. So tell me, Harry Potter, how did you manage to defeat the greatest wizard in the world?"

The question set Harry on edge. He had a suspicion about why Riddle was talking like he was but if he was right, then the professors had fucked up ('So you can curse!') worse than he had ever thought they could have. "I didn't," Harry snapped. He didn't know if it was true or not and he honestly wasn't sure if he would ever find out but Dumbledore had explained his own theories to Harry about his survival the year before and now Harry was about to throw those into Riddle's face. If he was right about who Riddle was then the knowledge would serve to piss him off.

_'And anger will cause him to make mistakes,'_ Gabriel added and Harry could feel the thrum of anger underneath their skin. Gabriel, like Harry, was anxious to end this. "My mother," Harry said, enjoying the look of confusion on Riddle's face. "My common muggleborn mother defeated Voldemort. And now he's a shade of himself, not even strong enough to possess a body!"

It hit home alright and Riddle's face twisted into a angered sneer, his eyes promising murder as he snarled. Harry didn't let up there, however, and continued. "Why would you even care? Voldemort is after your time!" Now all he had to do was wait for Riddle to confirm his thoughts.

"Voldemort is my past, present and future!" Riddle yelled and using Harry's wand, he wrote flaming words in the air. Tom Marvolo Riddle. Waving his hand, the words rewrote themselves and Harry fought back a snort at the cheesiness of it. I am Lord Voldemort.

_'Great,'_ Gabriel snarked. _'He's a bloody psychopath with delusion of grandeur! What could possibly go wrong with that?'_

Harry watched as the flames faded out of existence before he lunged at Riddle, catching the spirit off guard and knocking him to the ground. Riddle was more solid that Harry had originally thought and struggled against Harry's weight as the twelve year old attempted to go for his wand. "_Speak to me Slytherin!_" Riddle yelled, his words coming out in a series of hisses. "_Greatest of the Hogwarts four!_"

Harry ignored the sound of stone moving, more intent on getting back his wand. If what he thought was happening was actually happening, then he would need the weapon now more than ever. Riddle seemed to become bored with their wrestling and with a blast of pure magic, threw Harry across the room and nearly in the water that surrounded the main pathway.

That was when he caught his first sight of the Basilisk. The snake was much larger than the fifty foot snake's skin and if Harry had to guess, he would say that the great snake was nearly fifteen feet longer than he had thought. It's head was about as big as Harry was tall which didn't give him much confidence on how he was going to beat this thing. "_Kill him!_" Riddle yelled and the snake turned towards him...

Just in time for a loud cry to fill the tunnel. Harry turned his head to the still open entrance of the cave and saw a pheonix, of all things, flying into the Chamber with what looked like the Sorting Hat clutched in his talons. _'Well,'_ Gabriel said after a moment of stunned silence from everyone still conscious in the room._ 'I guess that Dumbledore isn't all that useless after all.'_ Harry looked at the two magic auras that were covering the phoenix and had to agree. He never would have guessed that Dumbledore would have a phoenix and he hoped beyond hope that the appearance of the pheonix meant that someone had heard Ron (or had finally went to talk to Myrtle and saw the giant hole in the floor). Fawkes, as the phoenix had introduced himself ('We can understand birds too?!' Harry asked in shock as Gabriel laughed) dropped the hat on the ground before attacking the eyes of the Basilisk.

"So this is what Dumbledore sends to protect his school?" Riddle sneered. "A song bird and a silly old hat?"

Harry ignored him in favor of the hat. It was glowing brightly in a way that Harry had never seen it do and with a burst of inspiration, he threw the hat on his head, diving to the side as the Basilisk attempted to strike Fawkes, only for the phoenix to dodge. 'I need to defend myself with!' he thought urgently, rolling to the side as one of the snake statues was broken by the thrashing basilisk.

A painful thump was heard as something hard hit his head. A sword clattered to the ground and Harry heard Gabriel cheer inside their head. Picking up the blade, he found that it felt both wrong and right in his hands. He didn't have much time to think more about it as Fawkes finally managed to blind the Basilisk's eyes.

He felt bad for what he would have to do. The basilisk was originally supposed to be the guardian of the school and Harry could hear its confusion as it searched for the threat it was supposed to destroy. It was old and Harry had no doubt the poor thing had gone insane from its time isolated down here from the rest of the world. Hefting up the sword, Harry ran forward, miraculously not falling on his face due to the water on the floor.

He dodged the Basilisk's strike, the snake using its sense of smell in place of its eyes to kill him. With a graceful swing ('How'd I do that,' he wondered), Harry slashed into the hide of the Basilisk and heard it scream in pain as the sword cut deep into its flesh.

_'The mouth!'_ Gabriel yelled urgently. _'Go for the mouth! Into the brain is the only way you're going to kill it!'_

Harry didn't question how Gabriel knew this and instead, he moved on what was nearly instinct, dodging and striking as he looked for his opening. The Basilisk seemed to grow angrier and angrier at his continued evasion until finally, it opened its large mouth in what would be its last attempt to kill him. Harry raised the sword as the Basilisk's head came at him, plunging the blade upwards into its mouth and into its brain, killing it instantly.

He wished that would have been the end of it but a large piece of fang puncture and break off into his arm, Harry barely able to hold back an agonized scream as he felt venom flow through his system and the world begin to blur.

Harry thought, in a moment of pain, that they were going to die. Yet it seemed that their Grace disagreed with them, flaring hotly underneath their skin until Harry had to fight back a scream that was echoed by Gabriel in their mind. Memories of swords clashing and pain filling him as he was stabbed through flooded into his mind as white Grace surround him before disappearing without any warning, the poison gone from his system leaving him gasping for breath on the ground.

Riddle, in what was annoyingly his best idea so far, had covered his eyes during the process and could only just stare at him in unadulterated shock. The fifteen year old Dark Lord to be looked as if Harry had just destroyed his every belief in that one moment. That didn't matter to Harry and the black haired wizard pushed aside the newest memories in favor of looking toward the teal eyed Heir of Slytherin. He and Gabriel had promised to end the one that had attacked Hermione and he planned on keeping that promise.

His Grace had receded into his body but his magic was still there for use. Sword in hand, Harry filled the magical blade with his magic and anger and lunged forward towards the stunned Riddle, piercing him through the stomach with the magically charged venom soaked blade. Riddle threw back his head and screamed as a bright golden light surrounded his darkened soul piece, consuming it from the inside out until it retreated to the black diary that sat on the floor, not to far from where Ginny lay still.

_'Stab that thing and get this over with!'_ Gabriel growled, pissed at how things had gone so far. _'I want to know how part of a soul, one dark enough that it could be a demon, got into a diary and how that diary fell into the hands of a little girl!'_

Harry wanted to know that as well. Raising the sword, he brought it down onto the diary and listened in satisfaction as Riddle screamed before dissipating into nothingness. Looking down at his arm, he frowned as he saw that fang still sticking out of it. Wrapping his right hand around the broken edges of the fang, he yanked it out with a ferocity that he hadn't known he had.

Ginny coughed and moaned on the floor and Harry spun around, fang in one hand and sword in another, to see the girl sitting up and looking around at her surroundings in shock. She about fainted when she caught sight of him, his arm bleeding and grime covering every inch of him. "Oh my god, Harry!" she sobbed and lunged for him, taking the both to the ground where she clung to his dirtied robes and just cried.

Fawkes let out a soft coo as he land on Harry's shoulder before beginning to sing. The song instantly calmed her and Harry felt himself relax as well, slowly pushing them both upwards. "Thanks Fawkes," Harry said smiling and Gabriel agreed with him silently. Fawkes chirped in response and hopped to the floor.

"You're bleeding!" Ginny exclaimed, eyes impossibly wide with horror. Harry started and looked down at the rounded wound. He hadn't even noticed that it was there and even looking at it, he couldn't really feel any pain. _'After effect of using so much Grace at once,'_ Gabriel told him. _'Using that much nearly killed us as much as the Basilisk venom would have. Our entire system is in a state of shock and I doubt that we'll be coming out of it anytime soon.'_

'I'd best bandage it, then,' Harry said, not wanting to think about how close to death they had nearly come. He had promised Ron that he wouldn't die in here and he felt nauseous at the thought of nearly breaking that promise. '_Let's not tell him,'_ Gabriel suggested easily and Harry agreed. The last thing he needed was for the redhead to freak out. Looking at his bloodied arm once again, Harry sighed and lifted up his robe to reveal the shirt and trousers underneath. With a strong yank, Harry ripped the fabric of his undershirt and pulled until he had a long enought strip of it in his hands. Biting one end of the fabric, he wrapped it around his arm, covering the bloodied hole that went all the way down to the bone.

"Ron's waiting for us at the Chamber entrance," Harry told her as he stood up.

Ginny nodded and pulled herself up to the floor, tears flowing down her face as she tried not to cry but failed to keep it in. "I attacked those people," she whispered and before they could even leave their part of the chamber, she collapsed sobbing in horror. Harry had no idea how to comfort her as she cried. Ginny, logically, should have told someone the minute that her diary began talking to her but Harry knew that the magics on the diary, which was now clutched in Fawkes' talons, that the magic Riddle (his main soul piece, that is) had put on the diary would have prevented her from telling anyone.

Harry also knew that he, Ron, and Hermione had also been caught in that spell when Harry had found and showed the diary to them after he had found it. It pissed Gabriel off that they hadn't noticed it when they had looked at the diary the first time but it was an ingenious spell. The spell hadn't been visible over the dark aura that the diary had exuded and Harry had to wonder if he would be able to see such things better when he and Gabriel finished merging together._ 'We should,'_ Gabriel answered, more in tune with Harry's thoughts than he had been before.

'Is that normal?' Harry asked. Proving that he could hear more than he could before, Gabriel answered._ 'Probably. We did just use a rather large amount of Grace right there. It's just lucky that your soul didn't completely regect it or we wouldn't be having this conversation.'_

Harry nodded absently as he rubbed Ginny's back in what he hoped was a soothing manner. "It isn't your fault," he told her as her sobbing began to wind down. "I tried telling the professor's about the diary more than once and it was like I couldn't even talk about it around them."

Ginny looked at him in alarm before nodding as well. "I tried to ask Dad about it..." she said and Harry knew that the same thing had happened to her when she had tried to talk to Mr. Weasley about the small black book. "I couldn't even bring the book to him to show him."

"See?" Harry said feeling so out of his depth that it wasn't funny. He'd never had to comfort somebody before and all of his memories that he'd regained didn't help when the girl crying was only eleven, had been possessed, and blamed herself for petrifying people in the school. "I'm sure Headmaster Dumbledore won't blame you for what happened."

Fawkes trilled in agreement, the diary still clutched in his talons. Ginny took a deep breath before smiling tearily at him and standing. Harry grinned at her and held out his uninjured arm for her to take his hand.

It was time to get out of here.

* * *

><p>Getting out of the chamber wasn't as easy as Harry had hoped it would be but Fawkes solved that problem when he proved to have superbird strength (<em>'I regret ever glancing at a comic book,'<em> Gabriel bemoaned. _'If you start going 'pow' I'm deleting those memories!'_) and managed to pull all three of them out of the pipe that lead into the Chamber. "_Close,_" Harry hissed at the sink as they landed in Myrtle's bathroom. Ginny gave a startled shriek at the hiss and Ron was forced to explain to hysterical sister what they had discovered when attempting to open the Chamber.

That wasn't the only hardship they met as Harry remembered that due to never having actually been in Dumbledore's office, he had no idea what the password was or where said office was located at. "We should go to the hospital wing," he said after a moment of Ron and Ginny arguing about where they should go. For once, Ron was all for going to the hospital wing while Ginny wanted to go turn herself in to the Headmaster. "Unless you know where the Headmaster's office is?" he asked with a sheepish grin. Ginny paused, red eyes widening as she realized that no, she didn't.

"Thanks mate," Ron hissed to him as they walked. "I don't know why she wanted to go to the Headmaster so bad. I mean, she nearly died!"

Harry didn't answer as the throbbing in his arm finally made itself known. He fought back a whimper as they walked, Gabriel mindlessly babbling in their mind in attempt to keep Harry's thoughts away from the pain. He was just lucky, Harry thought to himself, that their Grace had burned out the Basilisk's venom from his system. He really didn't want to know how that would have felt running through his veins.

It was a relief when they finally arrived at the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey nearly fainted when she saw them, covered in grime and in Harry's case, blood. "Out of those clothes!" she ordered immediately, nearly pushing them towards the changing area. "I want to get a good look at you all. What were you children doing?!"

They didn't answer, changing into their hospital gowns with little complaint. Ginny was the first done and the nurse nearly warped over to her side to guide her to an empty bed and begin checking her over. Ron was next, having finished getting dressed only seconds after Ginny had. Harry, though, was the slowest of them, having to work around his still bleeding and rather painful feeling arm. By the time he was done, Madam Pomfrey had already concluded that Ginny was magically exhausted but overall, she was okay and there was absolutely nothing wrong with Ron other than being cold and having a few bruises.

She indicated for Harry to sit on the bed when she noticed that he had emerged and began running scans on him, growing increasingly pale the more spells that she cast. "Oh my," she mumbled, staring at him and his arm. "These scans have to be malfunctioning. According to this, you've trace amount of Basilisk venom in your bloodstream, your magical core is severely depleted and your arm is damaged all the way to the bone!"

Harry fought back a grimace and kept silent as potion after potion was pushed towards him, her eyes promising a long term stay if he didn't drink them as instructed. The bleeding from his arm was stopped and the pain faded away as Madam Pomfrey gave him one last potion, telling him that he was to get some rest while she alerted the Headmaster of what was going on.

Closing his eyes, Harry fell asleep not long afterwards.

* * *

><p>He almost wished that he could have stayed that way as when he opened his eyes the next morning, the entire Weasley family and most of the staff were waiting up for him. The Headmaster looked to be the only one awake, however, and Harry was more than grateful that he wouldn't have to explain the story more than once. He didn't know if he could keep to the facts on what he and Gabriel had decided to tell them about what had happened.<p>

"Ah," Dumbledore spoke, his voice startling the people dozing around him. Harry didn't question what Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were doing here, assuming that Dumbledore had called them here when it was discovered that Ginny was missing. "I'm glad to see you awake, Mr. Potter. I dare say that Madam Pomfrey was getting a tad upset with your visitor's refusal to leave until you woke."

Harry didn't doubt that. While nice, the nurse was strict about her rules and even stricter about people needlessly cluttering the Hospital Wing. He said nothing, though, content to let Dumbledore speak for the moment as the redheads around him shook themselves awake. "We were hoping that you would clarify a few things for the school record," Dumbledore told him but Harry knew that the Headmaster wanted to make sure that he had the entire story for when the Ministry inevitably tried to cover it up. They had thrown an innocent man in Azkaban to be seen as 'doing something' by the people. It wasn't that much of a reach to think that they would blame everything on Ginny.

The fact that Dumbledore was once again the Headmaster (he couldn't believe he'd forgotten that the old professor had been fired by the Hogwarts Board of Directors) and gave him a sure nod. Opening his mouth, Harry began his retelling of events on the eve that he had found Tom Riddle's journal. He left out Gabriel's existence in his story, emitting most of the conversation he'd had with Aragog to just summing up the bare basics of what he had learned.

His audience listened to him, enraptured by everything that had been sitting right under their noses. The professor's seemed especially annoyed when he told them that he'd attempted to inform them about the diary before, only to find himself unable to talk about it in their presence. After what felt like forever, Harry finished up his story by telling them of how, after getting out of the Chamber, they had ended up in the hospital wing. "It's a good thing too!" Madam Pomfrey huffed as she straightened out some bed sheets. "You were in a right state when you got here and hearing this, I'm not surprised you passed out as quickly as you did."

_'Our body was under too much stress from everything that happened,'_ Gabriel explained to him as Madam Pomfrey bustled around. _'Frankly, I'm surprised that we managed to stay conscious as long as we did. That poison forced us to use more Grace than we ever have before and it nearly shut down our body when it flare up to disolve the venom. In all honesty, we should have died.'_

Harry fought back a shudder; he didn't want to think about what would have happened if they had died. 'We're okay now, though, aren't we?' he asked hesitantly.

_'Yes,'_ Gabriel answered but there was something in his voice that Harry didn't like._ 'The rate of our reintegration has increased exponentially. Originally, we would have completed it when we turned twenty but now, if I'm doing my math right, we should complete it at eighteen.'_

'That's good...isn't it?'

_'In theory, yes. In practice? Well, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. Our soul could still reject our Grace and we could burn out or we could end up burning the eyes out of anyone around us when it completes. It's even possible that we could even destroy half the planet when we come together completely. This hasn't ever happened before so I honestly don't know.'_ Gabriel sounded frustrated and Harry couldn't blame him. He was also frustrated at the lack of concrete knowledge of what could happen now that they were merging quicker than before.

Their conversation trailed off as Harry was bombarded by four concerned Weasley children and two adults. It was the first time that Harry had ever seen any similarities between the redheaded parents and their children; all six of them were both yelling and hugging him, Ron mostly upset because Harry had ended up injured while Ginny was blaming herself for...well, everything, really.

Not long after the Weasley's were finally thrown out of the hospital wing by an irate Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid showed up, looking a bit ragged and dirty but smiling all the same. "Ye did it, 'Arry!" the Grounds Keeper grinned as he clapped Harry on the back. "Ah knew ye could!"

"Thanks Hagrid," Harry grinned back, shifting slightly in his seat. His arm gave an annoyed twinge of pain but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. Madam Pomfrey had regrown the part of the bone that had been pierced by the fang and the muscles had already healed over it. All that was left was for the top layer of skin to heal over and due to the amount of magic that had already been used on the wound, Harry would have to wait until he healed naturally for his arm to stop hurting. '_It could have been worse,'_ Gabriel pointed out and Harry acknowledged that fact with a grimace. He didn't want to think about how bad it could have been if Fawkes hadn't shown. For all that he and Gabriel were confident in their abilities to take out the Heir, they had forgotten one important thing: for the time being, all they had in their arsenal was their magic, which Harry could barely manipulate due to his young age, even with his memories as a full grown wizard, Harry's magical core was too underdeveloped to use like he knew he could.

_'The drawbacks of being a child,'_ Gabriel sighed within their mind. _'We have all the memories and knowledge necessary to do things but none of the power.'_

'We'll fix that,' Harry said determinedly as he and Hagrid talked about everything that the man had missed during his incarceration at Azkaban. They made plans to visit Hope, Celestica, Mystica, and Sol before the end of the school year and Hagrid gave him what looked like a hand carved versions of all four of them laying together as they slept. Harry accepted the gift with a grin and promised Hagrid that he would come down and visit as soon as he could.

Days passed, the end of the year only a week away, when the Mandrake potion was finally able to be completed and Hermione, along with everyone else that had been petrified, were awake once again. Madam Pomfrey still had Harry confined to his own hospital bed in order to ensure that his arm didn't get damaged any further and was healing properly.

"Oh my goodness!" Hermione had cried out, the last to be revived but the first to spot Harry with his arm in a sling to prevent him from using it. "What happened?!"

Harry told those listening about what they had missed, Percy going deathly pale when he heard that Ginny had been taken into the Chamber itself. He told them that the one behind the attacks was a spirit that was trapped in a diary and had possessed the redheaded girl since the beginning of the year. "Oh my," Hermione had whispered as he had began explaining that Ginny, like them, had been unable to tell any adult about the diary.

"And Mr. Potter along with Mr. Weasley seemed to think that it was a grand idea to go after Ms. Weasley by themselves!" Madam Pomfrey huffed, clearly displeased with what had happened. "He's lucky that the Headmaster's phoenix found them, less they both be dead! Even then, the tears only managed to purge the venom in his system and not heal the wound itself!"

Hermione gave him a look that could only be described as pissed, her eyes narrowed, promising a lecture as soon as he was released from the hospital wing. Really, Harry hadn't planned on telling her about what had happened but he knew from the looks on the faces of those waking up that if he didn't, they might just blame Ginny for their attack and he didn't think the redhead would be able to handle that. He'd also been hoping to downplay the seriousness of his injuries off until Madam Pomfrey had spoken, likely knowing exactly what he was planning on doing.

Three days before the end of the school year, Harry was finally released from the Hospital Wing and quickly made his way down to Hagrid's cabin, where the man was waiting for him with Hope and her foals.

Sol saw him and was immediately by his side, excited at his appearance. Harry was unsurprised to find that he could now understand what the young foal was saying, having apparently missed him greatly in his absence. Hope stood and approached as well, nibbling gently on his hair, something that Harry now understood was a gesture of motherly affection.

_'A unicorn has adopted us,'_ Gabriel observed and Harry could hear the pleasure in his counterparts voice. From the memories that he had gained during the fight with the Basilisk, Harry knew that they had never really had all that much luck in the family department. There was a lot about those memories that Harry didn't understand yet and he knew that Gabriel was unlikely to explain it to him, yet that didn't bother him as much as it would have only months before. Like Gabriel had first told him, when they had met during Gringotts, they were the same person and that was becoming more and more apparent as Harry regained more and more memories.

He hadn't seen anymore about when he was Gabriel but that didn't bother him. Sitting down on the grass, arm still in its sling, Harry began telling the foals and Hope all about what he had been doing, Harry felt as if he had found part of himself, a part that he hadn't even known was missing. He'd friends, family, and he had himself.

For the first time in his life, Harry felt like he was at home. And three days later, as he boarded the train for the summer holidays, Harry was already counting down the days until he returned to Hogwarts the next year.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow, this is my longest chapter yet. 6,468 words in all! I hope the fight with the Basilisk was what you had hoped for!<strong>

**Second year is officially over and third year can now begin! Tom Riddle's diary has been destroyed and everyone petrified is once again awake! Hermione's displeased with Harry and Ron's adventure and Harry can now understand animals (although he can only speak snake...). **

**Deciding to let 'Gabriel' and Harry keep their parseltongue took more debate than I thought it would. On one hand, they could already understand snakes and other animals due to their status as an Archangel (despite being depowered). On the other hand, Harry could already speak parseltongue before touching the tree and the horcrux within him had been in contact with Harry's soul for most of his life until their Grace seemingly burned it out of them. So instead of having it all have been destroyed when Harry regained their Grace, I decided to have them keep certain aspects of it after the soul piece was gone. Parseltongue is only on of the abilities they kept. The others...well, you'll find out in later chapters, won't you? XD**

**The fight with the Basilisk also showed them that they were severely lacking in power, although they still have the knowledge and skill on how to do certain things. With their Grace currently a threat to them, they can't rely on it to help them out of tough situations but they also can't use their magic in replacement of it. With Sirius' escape and the threat of the Dementor's that their next year will bring, they'll have to find a solution soon. ;)**

**Feel free to ask any questions and I'll answer to the best of my ability! Comments and reviews are also welcome (duh)!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Harry had expected the summer holidays to be boring and not all that different from previous years. He'd been right, for the most part, as when he arrived at the Dursley's he was immediately set to work on weeding the lawn and repainting the fence. His relatives acted like his escape the previous summer had never happened and Harry didn't know whether to be grateful or not about it.

A month into the summer, Harry had already worked his arm more than Madam Pomfrey had recommended that he do and his work list was only growing. Harry decided that he was done then and there. He was already having trouble absorbing the memories he had gained in the Chamber and he didn't need any help damaging himself further.

In hindsight, he really should have seen this coming. Or Gabriel should have seen this coming. Thinking about it made his head hurt. Either way, the advanced rate of his memories being shoved into his head was jumbled, having been kick started by the flash of his death as Gabriel that he had received in the Chamber. Three human lives had also been played out in his dreams since then and Harry was beginning to have trouble separating himself from whom he had been and who he was.

'_Identity crisis taken to a whole new level,' _Gabriel commented in his head and Harry started in surprise. Gabriel had been mostly silent since he (they?) had arrived back at the Dursley's. '_Really?'_ Gabriel asked in surprise. '_I don't remember being quiet...'_

Oh great, his memories didn't remember. That made total sense. Harry shook his head, rubbing his temples at the sudden change in personality. 'Is this how its always going to be?' He asked, half horrified by the thought while the other half that had been a scientist in another life was intrigued. 'I don't think I can handle the split personality!'

'_I don't know,'_ Gabriel sounded apologetic. '_Nothing like this has ever happened before and from what I can tell, we're already doing better than we could have been.'_

Harry felt the urge to laugh hysterically. 'This is better?' He hoped the disbelief in his thoughts was apparent. 'I can barely tell who I am half the time! It's like every set of memories I've gained since the Chamber are at war with each other!'

'_That would be the fault of the increase in Grace to our system that was caused by the Chamber,' _Gabriel told him and Harry could almost hear the 'duh' that wasn't spoken...err...thought. '_I did tell you that our estimated time of complete reintegration had been pushed up! We're lucky that our Grace isn't eating us from the inside out or that we're not causing a near nuclear explosion and killing everyone around us.'_

Harry was silent. When he put it that way... 'This is better,' he admitted, ignoring the curiosity that seemed to accompany all of his decisions lately. No, he did _not_ want to know _how_ this was happening! He wanted to know when it would end, dammit!

'_I told you that too,'_ Gabriel reminded him, apparently now able to read all of his thoughts. '_From our current rate we should be one being again by the time we're...oh.'_

'Oh?' Harry asked, not sure he wanted to know but knowing that he did.

'_When we're seventeen.'_ Gabriel answered and Harry could hear the slight uncertainty in his counterparts thoughts. '_We've lost another year.'_

'Oh great,' Harry groaned. 'Until then I guess I can get used to the idea of being more than even two people!' He paused. 'If you say it could be worse...' he trailed off in warning.

Gabriel aborted his sentence in favor of silence, which Harry wasn't sure if that was an improvement or not. Great, he thought to himself. I'm telling myself to shut up! His head gave another pained throb and Harry forced himself to remain quiet as he laid on his rather shabby bed, staring at the stained ceiling in Dudley's second bedroom.

'_We need to get out of here,' _Gabriel said after a few minutes. '_Being worked to death and aggravating our already bad injury isn't helping us any.'_

'We'll make a break for it in the morning,' Harry conceded. 'I'll use the opportunity to get Vernon to sign my permission slip for Hogsmeade. He'll probably jump on the chance to get us gone before Aunt Marge gets here.'

Gabriel was silent and Harry took that to mean that he agreed with the plan. Reluctant to close his eyes, where he would most likely gain even more memories, Harry closed his eyes after he determined that not sleeping wouldn't help him any either.

He was asleep only minutes later.

* * *

><p>Harry had been right, Vernon had jumped at the chance. The slip was signed without hesitation before shoved into Harry's hands along with strict orders to be gone before Vernon got back from work. Harry complied, packing up all of his things into his trunk, throwing on some clean robes, before trekking outside to the curb of the street.<p>

It had turned out that Harry had been born in this particular universe more than the twice that he had known about. One of the influxes of memories had belonged to a woman version of himself who had died when she was thirty, after the defeat of Grindelwald but before the rise of Voldemort. It seemed that unlike what he had assumed, Harry wasn't getting the memories in any real order. That or he was being reincarnated all over the time stream of each universe.

'Twelve going on ninety,' Harry remarked absently in his head, Gabriel humming in agreement. Harry didn't feel like a child anymore, not like he had when he'd arrived at Hogwarts or even how he had felt just the year before. Grasping his wand in his hand, Harry held it up straight out.

He was rewarded with a band that signaled the arrival of the Knight Bus, although instead of being a dark purple color that Harry had associated with it, the bus was a red color that resembled the muggle buses that he had seen in London the few times he had been there._ 'So it changes color in the daytime?'_ Gabriel wondered. Harry didn't have an answer, just shrugging in reply as the doors of the bus folded open.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus," a tall, rather skinny man greeted him, brown hair somewhat covering his eyes. "Fine Wizarding Transport since..." the man finally looked at Harry, his eyes bulging when he caught sight of Harry's scar. "Ern! Wake up, Ern! Harry Potter is standing next to the Knight Bus!"

'Great,' Harry sighed inwardly. 'Fans.'

"Names Stanley Shunpike!" The conductor told him, seemingly pleased at just being able to talk to him. "Where ya headed, Mr. Potter?"

"The Leaky Cauldron, please?" Harry asked, glad that the man had begun asking him all the questions he could about his scar, what he remembered, or worse, for his autograph. Lockhart the year before had been bad enough.

_'Speaking of said annoying professor,'_ Gabriel interjected._ 'I don't remember seeing him before the end of the year. Sure, exams were cancelled and all, but he still should have shown up for the leaving feast, shouldn't he have?'_

Harry didn't remember seeing him there either but was distracted from his response as he caught his first sight of the Knight Bus's interior. Instead of the beds and blankets, the inside actually look like a normal bus. Harry had never used the bus during the daytime in his previous lives and hadn't known that it had different setting for each. Either way, the inside of the bus was decent looking and Harry sat down on the nearest booth seat while Stanley levitated his trunk into the bus.

"To the Leaky Cauldron, Ern!" Stan called out to the driver and Harry fought to hold onto his seat as the bus took off at breakneck speeds. Harry watched in interest as muggle vehicles seemed to swerve out of the way of the bus before righting themselves as soon as they were past them. From the lack of reaction any of the muggles they passed showed, Harry doubted that any of them could even see the bus.

Either way, they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron only minutes after Harry had gotten on the bus and the black haired wizard was impressed by how fast the had gotten there, though he wasn't sure why seeing as he had used the bus in other lives. _'Best not think too much on it,'_ Gabriel suggested and Harry accepted the advice, putting those thoughts into the back of his head to revisit later.

Stan helped Harry carry his trunk off the bus, happily accepting the money that Harry passed to him to pay for the ride. They waited for him to be inside the Leaky Cauldron before they took off, a loud bang their final goodbye.

"Hello there, Harry!" Tom called over to him and Harry was surprised to see very little people there. "What can I do for you?"

"Hello Tom," Harry smiled back, feeling more and more like himself already. "I was hoping to rent a room for the rest of the summer. My relatives are visiting my cousin's aunt; her and I don't get on that well so they were hoping I could stay here for the rest of break."

Something flashed in Tom's eyes and Harry knew that the barkeeper was displeased with Harry's mostly true story. "It would be my pleasure," Tom told him with a smile. The barkeeper turned around, fiddling with some keys before grabbing one. "The room is at the end of the hallway to the right," Tom told him as he handed Harry the key. "I'll be up in a little while to check on you. Feel free to unpack while you wait."

_'Well,'_ Gabriel commented dryly as they moved to head to their new room._ 'Next time you might want consider using less truth. I don't think Tom appreciated hearing that our relatives abandoned us for the rest of break.'_

'Why should I lie?' Harry wondered as he unlocked the room and pulled his trunk with him inside. 'The Dursley's are horrible. They hate me, I hate them.'

_'Lying about these things can come back to bite us,'_ Gabriel grudgingly agreed, still displeased. _'But if we end up with an even worse family, I'm blaming you.'_

'I'm told blaming yourself gets you nowhere,' Harry retorted, silencing his counterpart due to his reply. Before now, Harry had been careful about what he said, even in the privacy of his own mind where only Gabriel could hear him.

_'Huh,'_ Gabriel mused._ 'Looks like those memories have done some good after all. It's about time that we come out of our shell.'_

"If you say so," Harry mumbled out loud, pulling out only the essential clothing and his homework for now. He didn't want to chance having to pack everything up again if he wasn't able to stay as long as he hoped. He had just finished setting the books on the desk by the door when he heard someone knocking.

That was fast, Harry thought as he opened the door to see Tom with a handful of towels in his hands. "Thought you might need these," Tom told him as he handed over the towels. "This is one of our long term rooms; we don't get many long term tenants so I wasn't sure if it was stocked."

"Thanks, Tom." Harry grinned at the man and moved to place the stack on the dresser, the barkeeper stepping into the room as he did so.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask," Tom told him, looking around the room as if to inspect it. "Your bill won't be given until you leave and meals are included into the price of the room, so feel free to eat in the diner when you're hungry."

Harry nodded at the man, thanking him again as the barkeeper left, closing the door behind him. Flopping down on the bed in the room, Harry stared at the ceiling, his thoughts turning to last summer, before he had met Gabriel. He'd been so different then and Harry could scarcely believe that less than a year had changed him so much.

_'It might be less than a year time wise,'_ Gabriel began. _'But with your memories that you've regained in that time period, more than two hundred years have passed since then. The fact that you're still mostly the same person says a lot about who our reincarnations were.'_

'But I'm still not the same person. If Dobby was to show up now with the same warning, I would probably interrogate him instead of letting him talk,' Harry pointed out.

_'Suspicion is good,'_ Gabriel countered. _'Suspicion is what is going to keep us alive. Voldemort has somehow split his soul and I doubt he only did it the one time. I also doubt that he's going to leave us alone anytime soon and we're vulnerable as we are right now. He could take us out easily.'_

'What do you want us to do?' Harry snapped back. 'If you haven't noticed, we aren't even thirteen yet! Our body is too young to learn some of the magic that our memories have and I really don't think that we'll be able to pull anything big using Grace, seeing as it almost killed us quicker that the Basilisk venom would have!'

'Then we need to brush up on our other skills,' Gabriel told him evenly. 'We have the knowledge on how to wield a sword and we have more than a few other weapon skills in our memories. We lack the muscle memory and the training to use it properly but that's all we lack.'

'Somehow I don't think we're going to be able to carry around a sword unnoticed.' Harry rubbed his temples, his head throbbing.

_'We don't need to carry around a sword,'_ Gabriel said, his voice mischievous in nature. _'That influx of Grace may have nearly killed us but it also gave us an advantage; we now have enough Grace in our system to access our sword.'_

A flash of metal hitting metal, different from any metal that Harry had ever seen appeared in his head. It didn't look like any sword he had ever seen before, resembling an icepick more than traditional swords with its handle carved with runes that Harry felt he should knew yet he couldn't comprehend them. 'Yes,' Gabriel sounded pleased. 'That sword. Focus on it and call it to you. It should come.'

Harry closed his eyes, pausing the image in his minds eye as he tried to call the sword into his hand. He focused on the feeling of carved metal in his palm and the tingle of lightning as he swung it. He could feel a static in the air that wasn't there before and kept the image in his mind, willing the sword, his sword to answer him.

Harry fought back a scream as his back ripped open at the same time metal appeared in his hand. There was no blood and his skin remained unblemished as he reached his hand up to grab as the skin of his back in shock. The fabric wasn't even disturbed above his hand and yet at his shoulder blades, Harry could feel two new appendages that hadn't been there before.

Whipping around with his eyes now wide open, Harry stared into the mirror, eyes focused on the two large, looming wings that were spread behind him. Green and gold feathers decorated the appendages and Harry could have sworn that they were glowing a faint white light that was eerily reminiscent of the part of his mind where Gabriel resided. _'I did not expect that to happen,'_ Gabriel commented, his voice suddenly louder than Harry had ever heard it before. _'I guess Cassie did still have his wings when he was depowered and swinging around that sword...'_

'We have wings,' Harry said as he reached out in what looked to be an attempt to touch the mirror. 'Why...how...'

_'Like I've said before,'_ Gabriel interrupted before Harry could have a complete breakdown. _'Perks of being what we are.'_

Harry had never asked, had never even thought to ask, and felt stupid for not asking before now. 'What are we?'

Gabriel was silent and Harry could practically feel his counterpart considering whether or not to tell him. It was also becoming apparent that Gabriel was deliberately hiding that information from him and Harry couldn't even begin to guess why._ 'Are you sure that you want to know?'_ Gabriel finally asked, sounding unsure of himself with a hint of fear in his voice. _'Do you honestly want to know what we are? Could you even accept what we are?'_

Harry was the one that fell silent this time. Did he want to know? Could he accept it, whatever they were? He didn't know yet he also knew that if he wasn't ready now, when he was split between being multiple people, he would never be ready and he for one didn't want to stay in this state of half-being. 'If I'm not then I never will be,' Harry told him confidently.

**_'We are Gabriel,'_** his memories given consciousness said, his voice ringing out in their head. '**_We are the Messenger, he who stands in the presence of God and takes the Word of God unto the world. We are old, older than the universes in which we have lived, older than the oldest of the seraphs. We are one of the Pillars of Heaven. We are Gabriel, Archangel of God's army!'_**

The room was filled with static and Harry gasped as his newly grown wings spread out intimidatingly, as if in response to a threat that he could not see. Harry's mind was rapidly turning, taking in everything that Gabriel...that he had told himself. The sword in his hand grew warm under his touch and Harry watched as his eyes glowed a bright white in the mirror. Harry opened his mouth to speak. "We are Gabriel," he tested the words out and his eyes dimmed back to their emerald green color, his wings lowering themselves and the warmth of his sword disappearing as he looked at his reflection.

_'Good,'_ Gabriel, or his memories of being Gabriel, said in his mind. Harry could have sworn that the Archangel (holy shit, he was an angel) sounded relieved. _'If you had reacted badly then it was possible that we could have self destructed right here.'_

Harry paused, his eyes growing impossibly wide. "Self-destructed?!" he hissed, just barely able to keep from squeaking. 'If that was a possibility then why did you tell me?!' He demanded.

_'Like you said,'_ Gabriel said and Harry could almost see the smug grin._ 'If you couldn't accept it now than it was likely that you'd never be able to. Best to just get it over with.'_

Harry thought it over, mulling over the truthfulness in those words. "So," he said out loud, raising the sword in his hands to eye level. "How do I use this?"

Gabriel laughed in his head and Harry got a strange sense of foreboding. I'm going to regret asking that, he thought to himself as Gabriel's laughter turned into mad cackling.

* * *

><p>It turned out that learning how to reuse a sword was harder than Harry had thought it would be. He didn't know if it was because he was still growing or that his newly regrown pair of wings were throwing off his balance, but Harry ended up on the floor face first more often than not. His reflexes were decent for his age and his senses were better than anyone else in the Wizarding World but his sense of balance was shot to hell.<p>

Learning to use his sword wasn't the only thing Harry had to do either. With Gabriel's instructions, Harry was slowly learning how to move his wings without getting distracted due to their presence on his back. It was a slow work in progress and Harry was getting increasingly frustrated which showed as his feather ruffled in irritation, causing him even further distraction due to the odd feeling that he was not yet used to.

The emergence of his wings and his manifestation of his sword had one good outcome: he was no longer having an influx of memories every night. In fact, he had yet to regain any new memories, the ones he had already regained playing in his dreams instead, seemingly trying to merge with his other memories better than they had before.

_'That's because our Grace was overflowing and trying to force the merge faster than we were able to handle,'_ Gabriel explained during one of their wing practice sessions. _'Now that Grace as an outlet in the form of our wings. Think of it like a faucet sink that's been plugged up. The water has nowhere else to go so it tips over the side but when you unplug the sink, it easily drains out. You were the sink and our Grace was the water with our wings acting like the drain.'_

Harry had a feeling that Gabriel's explanation wasn't the best one out there. He didn't pay it much mind, though, as it had managed to get the point across and Harry felt more than a bit of relief that they weren't at too much risk of burning out anymore. They were still ahead of schedule and Harry could look forward to remembering everything when he turned seventeen, yet they weren't in danger of killing everyone around them at any given moment anymore. Ahead of schedule but not dangerously so.

The summer days passed quickly now that Harry had something to occupy his time with. His birthday was announced with the arrival of gifts from his friends. Ron and his family had gotten to go to Egypt to visit Bill after their father had won the lottery and his redheaded friend had also gotten a new wand. He sent Harry a sneak-o-scope. Hermione had sent him a broom care kit that had him smiling and putting in his trunk next to his Quidditch stuff. The Twins had sent him, incredibly, a knife along with a book on how to use it. It seemed that they didn't like that fact that he had been defenseless without his wand in the chamber.

He got a cake from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that came with a letter that wished him well. Ginny had sent him what looked like a hand-carved Basilisk, which he put with the hand-carved flute and the scene of Hope and her foals immediately. He bemoaned the fact that he had nowhere to display them but promised that he would find the perfect place as soon as he no longer lived with the Dursley's. Hagrid had sent up stack of photos that featured Hope and him, the foals, and him playing with the foals. Harry nearly smacked his head as he remembered that he had gotten his own camera for Christmas the year before, along with a photo album to put them in. Digging through his trunk, he pulled out the book and placed each of the photo's in a slot as carefully as he could.

Hagrid had also sent him a book with a note attached. Harry blinked as the book, snarled and snapped at him when he touched it before jumped out of his hands and running across the floor. Harry quickly grabbed the note, which had fallen to the floor, and read it over. **_Thought you might need this. Stroke the spine to calm it down. -Hagrid._** Harry dropped the note on the bed and got down on both knees. "Come on little guy," he cooed to the book, ignoring the feeling of ridiculousness as he did so. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The book shuffled forward as the pixies, who had been living in Harry's trunk since they had escaped from Lockhart the year before, landed on the floor next to him. Harry had wondered if they were still in there, the two having been so quiet and well behaved since they had first met him. "That's it," Harry encouraged the book, the two pixies chirping their own encouragements until _The Monster Book of Monsters _was sitting nicely in front of the thirteen year old wizard. Harry reached his hand down, grinning as the book let him touch it. Stroking the book's spine in reward, Harry laughed as it purred.

"I guess I know who the Care of Magical Creatures professor is," Harry commented as he made a small bed out of towels for the book on the floor. Hedwig flew down to the floor to study the book curiously, hooting in acceptance as the book didn't try to eat her. Luckily, none of his other presents were sentient and the rest of the day was spent trimming his broom and eating cake.

His birthday was the only interlude in his sword and wing practice. Gabriel was determined to get their muscle memory back as soon as the could and Harry had to agree with him. Out of the two years that he had spent in Hogwarts. Harry had nearly died twice. Now he had an advantage that most people couldn't even see and he doubted that Voldemort or whoever else decided to attack him, would expect him to pull out a sword from nowhere.

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the summer was nearly over and the Weasley's were visiting him in the Leaky Cauldron as they waited for Hermione so that they could go shopping together. Harry congratulated Percy for making Head Boy, the seventh year blushing as Harry complimented him. After all, he had gone with Hermione to try and tell the professor's about her discovery even knowing that there was a Basilisk on the loose in the castle. If that didn't scream dedication, nothing did.

The shopping was more interesting that Harry could have hoped for. Hermione bought a new cat named Crookshanks, who seemed to be able to see Harry's wings as the cat batted at them whenever he was within reach. Harry was just happy that the cat didn't seem to be able to touch them as his paw went through the area where they should be every time._ 'They aren't part of the physical world,'_ Gabriel told him when Harry asked. '_ Certain people can see them and other angels can touch them but other than that, for all intents and purposes they aren't even there.'_

'Wow,' Harry said, glancing at the wings in the reflection of a shop window. Ron was complaining about Hermione's new cat as he kept his rat, Scabbers, away from intelligent seeking eyes. Harry had to wonder if attacking rats was a cat thing as Crookshanks hadn't seemed bothered by any of the other mice in the pet store.

He was distracted from those thoughts as they entered the bookstore and Harry had to comfort a nearly sobbing shopkeeper as he sobbed, apparently having been mauled by most of _The Monster Book of Monsters_ that had come in for the new year. The shopkeeper seemed to sob all that harder when Harry offered to teach the man how to handle the books.

Several minutes later and Harry was surrounded by purring books and teaching the shopkeeper (Harry felt rather bad for the already mauled man) how to stroke their spines in a way that would make the books putty in his hands. The discount on all of their school books that earned them was a surprisingly generous amount and Ron was pleased to find out that he actually had leftover money when they finally completed their shopping.

They headed to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor last, each of them ordering a different flavor of ice cream. Harry order their death by chocolate after the urging of Gabriel and was more than pleased with the ice cream as they ate in happy silence.

"Excuse me," the voice of a young girl broke the silence and Harry turned to look at a blond girl with radish earrings. "Did you know that there are pixies in your robe?"

Ron and Hermione stared, craning their necks to see two pleased pixies munching on bits of ice cream cone that Harry had broken off for them. "I'd forgotten about them," Ron marveled as he looked at the blue pixies. Harry didn't blame them, the two having been as well behaved as they were.

"I did tell them they could stay as long as they behaved," Harry reminded him. Ron shrugged in response, going back to his ice cream. It seemed that the pixies didn't bother him as much as they used to. Harry fought back laughter as Tinker and Havoc began playing what looked like a game of tag around his shoulders, looking more than comfortable being the middle of the Diagon Alley shopping crowd.

"That's very kind of you," the girl said dreamily. "Letting them stay."

Harry was the one who shrugged now. "They're cute," he told her, echoing Gabriel's words from the year before. The pixies chirped in pleasure from his pocket, pleased at the compliment.

"It was nice to meet you, Harry Potter." The girl told him, her expression still as dreamy as it had been when she had first appeared. "Your wings are very pretty."

Harry froze and he felt Gabriel jerk to attention in the back of their mind. '_Well I'll be,'_ Gabriel mused as they watched the girl walk away._ 'I didn't expect to run into one of those here.'_

'Those?' Harry asked as Ron and Hermione began arguing about Scabbers and Crookshanks again.

_'A human that's gifted with the Sight.'_ Gabriel told him. _'Not a prophet but still able to see things that most other people can't. It's rare, though.'_

"Who was she?" Harry asked aloud, catching his two friend's attentions.

"Her?" Ron asked, finishing up his ice cream. "Her name's Luna Lovegood. She doesn't live too far from the Burrow and her dad run the Quibbler. Most just call her Looney, though."

That was rather cruel, Harry thought angrily as he watched the girl walk into the bookshop with the laughter of some older students following her. 'I hate people like that,' Harry growled silently, not liking how Luna was being treated at all.

_'You and me both,'_ Gabriel said.

Thoughts of Luna disappeared from his mind as he overhead Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking later that night and learned about Sirius Black, the man who was said to be Voldemort's right hand man and had broken out of Azkaban, the most secure Wizarding Prison in the world. The only one to ever break out and they thought he was coming after Harry.

_'Great,'_ Gabriel grumbled as they arrived securely in their room _'I'm beginning to see a theme here and I don't like it.'_

Harry couldn't agree more.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter just demanded to be written. It called to me 'write me...write me'. Who am I to refuse the calls of my muse? <strong>

**...Apparently I rhyme when tired. It's 2:37 am... I'm going to regret that one in the morning but hey, at least you guys get a new chapter so soon after the last one. This story is basically writing itself, here!**

**So, I'm going to go to bed. Feel free to ask as many questions as you want and I'll answer as best as I can...in the morning. Sleep is a thing that I should go do.**

**Night!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	15. Chapter 14

**Back to Hogwarts again!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen<strong>

Boarding the Hogwarts Express on September First was just as rushed as always, the twins running off to meet with their friend Lee Jordan while Percy hugged his parents goodbye and hurried to the prefect compartment, his Head Boy badge displayed on his robe proudly. Ginny, though, remained with him and Ron as they went to search for an empty compartment to wait for Hermione. Harry didn't mind, though, seeing as Ginny had made almost no friends last year because of her possession by Tom Riddle.

Their usual compartment was filled with what looked like first years so with a sigh, the three went to find an empty compartment. It seemed that they hadn't needed too as Hermione flagged them down soon after, having grabbed a mostly empty compartment already.

It was mostly empty do to the fact that there was a grown man sleeping on one side of the benches on the compartment, wearing ragged robes and looking as if a good shave wouldn't be out of the question. The magic on the man, however, was strange to look at and Harry frowned as it seemed to actually take the form of an animal for a second. 'Weird,' he thought as he attempted to catch a glimpse of the animal again with no luck.

'_Very,'_ Gabriel agreed.

"Who is he?" Ron asked, eyeing the man in curiosity. The brown haired sleeping man didn't stir at Ron's voice and stayed fast alseep.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," Hermione answered promptly and the two redheads turned to look at her in surprise. Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it's on his suitcase!"

So it was, Harry blinked reading the engraved name plank in silence. The trunk was worn and looked older than the professor himself. Harry wondered if the man was using the trunk for sentimental reasons or financial reason, as it looked like the trunk had four names carved into the old leather.

"How have you both been?" Hermione asked and they descended into conversation from there.

Ron had all sorts of tales to tell them about Egypt while Hermione had gone to France for the holiday and had her own fair share of stories to tell them. In comparison, Harry's summer was rather boring (ignoring the whole archangel of the lord revelation) and Harry contented himself with listening to everything that Hermione had learned as well as the pranks that the Twins had pulled.

His trunk shook a bit above his head and Harry blink as he realized that he'd hadn't yet let out Havoc and Tinker. Standing up on the compartment booth, Harry unlatched his trunk and two blue pixies filtered out into the room followed closely by _The Monster Book of Monsters_. The book practically pounced on Harry, purring as its spine was stroked.

Hermione giggled at his and Harry shrugged, settling the book on his lap to pet. Crookshanks, Hermione's new cat, came over to sniff at the book before deciding that it wasn't a threat and returning to her owners lap. "I'm beginning to see a pattern," the bushy haired girl teased. "Two pixies and our sentient Care of Magical Creatures book. What are you going to adopt next?"

Harry stuck his tongue out at her and laughed when his book did the same. Ron and Ginny nearly fell over themselves laughing as Hermione giggled happily in her seat. "That reminds me," she said suddenly. "What electives are you both taking?"

Ron had signed up for Care of Magical Creatures and Divination as he thought that they would be easy O's. Hermione gave him her most disapproving look before turning to Harry. She looked pleased when she learned that he had signed up for Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes. Talking to Bill and Charlie at Christmas last year had made Harry more than interested in each subject. That Hagrid was now teaching the class was a surprise bonus and he couldn't wait to see how the large man handled having his own class.

Hermione, much to Harry's shock, had signed up for everything. "'Mione," Harry said as she finished explaining why she had chosen each of the classes. "You're going to burn yourself out if you do all of those classes! Do you really need Divination and Muggle Studies?"

Hermione frowned at him. "But wouldn't learning how to tell the future be incredibly useful? And it would be fascinating to learn how wizards see muggles!"

Harry looked at Ron, who was rolling his eyes. "Hey mate," Harry said, catching his friends attention. "Why don't you tell 'Mione why you think Divination is an easy O?"

Ron blinked, frowned, before nodding after he caught on to what Harry was doing. The thirteen year old wizard had done some research on the subject over the summer and had learned that Divination was basically useless if you weren't gifted with the sight ('Or if you weren't a prophet,' Gabriel interjected) and other than Luna, he hadn't met anyone in their school who had the sight. Ron began explaining as much to an increasingly annoyed bushy haired girl.

"Then why don't they tell us that before we sign up?!" the girl demanded, angry. "If it's such a waste of time, surely the professors will want to make sure that the time of the students isn't wasted!"

Harry shrugged. "It's not like I know," he reminded her. "I just know that all authors agree: Divination is useless if you don't have the sight. That's why Arithmancy was invented."

Hermione sighed sadly and nodded. "I'll ask Professor McGonagall to drop the class after the feast," she muttered, rather disappointed.

"You should drop muggle studies too," Harry told her but he knew it was a lost cause when she just huffed at him.

"Look on the bright side, 'Mione," Ron said in an attempt to cheer their friend up. "You'll still have the book to study even if you drop the class."

Hermione did perk up a bit at that and Harry shared a grin with Ginny as they watched the two. "I wonder when they'll figure it out," Harry whispered to the girl and was rewarded with a giggle.

Their conversations died down when the train came halting to a stop, the lights flickering out as it did so. "What happened?!" Ron asked and Harry could only just see the glow of his magic in the oppressing darkness that had suddenly filled the train. That alone set off all kinds of alarm bells in Harry's head and Gabriel was alert in their mind as they waited for whatever was going to happen to happen.

A cold presence began filling the room and Harry's became visible as the air grew icy around them. He could hear Ginny sobbing quietly from right next to him and he could see Ron and Hermione shrink in on themselves. There was a distinct ringing in Harry's ears as faint pictures of people he had never met seemed to be standing before him, their voices a near whisper in his mind.

Suddenly the sleeping professor was awake, his wand pointed at a skeletal creature that was floating in the door. Gabriel was shuddering in his mind and Harry felt his body echoing him, seemingly unable to stop the rapid shudders that wracked his frame. "None of us are hiding Sirius Black underneath our robes!" The professor told the creature forcefully. "Leave!"

The creature didn't listen to the man, advancing menacingly into the room, its head turned in the direction of Harry. _'Move!'_ Gabriel yelled in their mind. _'Get out of here now!'_

He was about to do just that, his body tensing as he readied himself to make a break for it, when a golden light filled the room and the creature screeched, flying backwards as quick as it could until it was out of the compartment altogether and fleeing down the corridor. Professor Lupin lowered his wand, the tip still glowing brightly as it warded off the creature.

Near silence filled the room, Ron attempting to comfort his still sobbing sister and Hermione moving over to rub Harry's back soothingly as the shudders began to fade away. "What was that thing?" he croaked, Gabriel silent and tense in their mind.

"A Dementor," the professor answered, his voice surprisingly smooth despite how gruff and ragged the man looked. "They guard Azkaban prison. I suspect that they searched the train in search of Sirius Black."

"Why would Black be on the Hogwarts Express?" Ron demanded, looking more protective of Ginny than Harry had ever seen the other boy. The redheaded boy was nearly wrapped around his sister as if he could ward off any threats to her by hiding her from sight. Ginny didn't seem to mind all that much as she leaned into her brother's protective hold.

Lupin didn't answer but Harry saw his eyes flicker over to look at Harry. The black haired boy pretended not to notice and only half listened as Lupin informed them to stay in their compartments while he went to talk to the conductor.

Once the man was gone, Harry quickly told them all what he had overheard from Mr. Weasley earlier in the week. Ron seemed to grow red in anger the more he heard and Hermione's face fell as she realized that another year at Hogwarts had brought yet another threat. Ginny seemed to calm, her face still pale but fixed into a mask of determination. "Black won't get anywhere near you!" the girl proclaimed, brown eyes gleaming in promise of pain should he even try.

Ron seemed about ready to burst from anger. "Why the bloody hell is someone always after you?!" He finally exploded. "Those Dementors aren't about to help! Is the Ministry daft? That thing was just about as ready to attack you as it would be Black!"

Harry rather agreed with the redhead and he could hear from Gabriel's rather inventive curses that the archangel did as well. "The Minister is the one that threw Hagrid into Azkaban so he could be seen doing something," Harry reminded the redhead while Hermione looked scandalized at the very thought of someone in power doing that. Harry had forgotten that she had already been pertrified by that point in time and he didn't envy her, having to find everything out after the face. He doubted that he would have been as okay with it as she seemed to be.

Professor Lupin returned before they could discuss anything else, carrying a pile of chocolate in his hand. He passed one out to each of them. "Eat these," he told them. "Chocolate helps negate the effects of Dementors. You'll feel better."

Harry opened the chocolate frog he was handed, catching it quickly with his hand and taking a bite out of the squirming candy. The feeling of cold immediately faded from his body and warmth took its place. Harry felt his wings wrap around him in an attempt at comfort, one that he wasn't sure whether or not it was from him or from Gabriel.

It didn't take long for the Express to arrive at the station and Harry felt slightly bitter that if they Dementors had waited fifteen minutes, he might not have been forced to deal with them. _'There's something off about them,'_ Gabriel said as Harry picked up his book (he'd have to give it a name as referring to it by title or by 'it' just felt wrong) and motioned for the pixies to get inside his pockets as they filed out of the compartment. Professor Lupin gave Havoc and Tinker an odd look but didn't comment, waiting until they were all out of the compartment before sliding the door closed as he was the last to leave.

Walking towards the carriages that would take them up to the school, Harry jerked in surprise when he saw winged skeletal horses hooked up to the front of the carriages. 'What are those?!' Harry asked in surprise, making sure not to say anything aloud as no one else gave any sign of seeing the gaunt horses.

_'No idea,'_ Gabriel replied. Their wings ruffled in agitation on their back and Harry shuddered as the appendages went through Ron's shoulder as if it wasn't even there. The feeling greatly reminded him of walking through a ghost. _'You'll get used to it,'_ the archangel tried to reassure him but Harry wasn't sure he could ever get used to that strange feeling.

Climbing into the carriage, Harry pulled his wings in until they were wrapped tightly around himself, glad that the others couldn't see them as they would be obscuring his face if they could. 'Another year, another threat,' Harry remarked as the carriage passed a floating Dementor.

_'I really wish this wasn't a theme,'_ Gabriel bemoaned and Harry agreed, clutching his book just a tad bit tighter to his chest, fingers stroking the spine in an effort to calm himself.

So much for being the safest place in the world.

* * *

><p>Dumbledore didn't shed any light onto the situation with the Dementors and warned them not to sneak around the school while that Azkaban guards were here. The Headmaster sounded displeased with the presence of the horrible creatures and most of the school seemed to take his warning to heart; even the Twins looked more serious than Harry had ever seen them.<p>

With that word of warning, the feast began and Harry carefully cleared a spot for Ruth (the only name that his copy of _The Monster Book of Monsters_ seemed to like) who purred as it stole a bit of his potatoes. Harry wasn't sure how it was possible for Ruth to eat but he decided not to question it for the sake of his own sanity. _'We have sanity?_' Gabriel wondered. _'We talk to ourselves on a regular basis and we've adopted a sentient book for a friend, not to mention the two pixies that now live in our pockets. Sanity left a long time ago.'_

'Hush,' Harry shushed him as the people around them began to stare. Harry just shrugged at them before beginning to eat his own meal. It wasn't like he hadn't done stranger things previous years (like inviting Havoc and Tinker to stay with them in the first place). "What ever happened to Lockhart, anyways?" Harry asked as Lupin was introduced as the new Defense Professor.

"I forgot that you wouldn't know," Ron blinked at him. "The pansy claimed that he had known where the Chamber was the entire time. Snape-"

"Professor Snape," Hermione corrected and Harry had to wonder why she even bothered anymore. Harry would show respect to the man when he earned it and not a moment before. Being a Professor and acting the way he was, Harry very much doubted that would ever happen._ 'Asshole needs a severe attitude adjustment,'_ Gabriel gripped in their mind and Harry felt his wings ruffle themselves in what was probably agreement. It would take awhile before he got the new body language that they brought with them.

"Yeah, him," Ron nodded to her and she huffed at his blatant dismissal of the man. "He suggested that if Lockhart knew where the Chamber was that the fraud should go save Ginny. That cowardly peacock was gone before morning. Packed up and just left. The papers are all talking about it and Mum's gone and burned his books. Seems that she didn't like that he left Ginny to die. Bloke better hopes that she never finds him."

"Well at least something good came out of it," Harry muttered and Ron shot him a grin. They turned to look at Ginny, who was being hugged by a babbling Colin, the boy reassuring her that he didn't blame her at all. It seemed that Ginny hadn't lost that friendship, at least.

"I for one don't miss him one bit," Hermione grumbled and Harry had to fight with himself to keep from teasing her. She had, had a crush on the man the year before and it was rare that Hermione was ever wrong. "His classes were absolute rubbish! I don't think I learned a single spell from that man!"

The ultimate sin in the world of Hermione Granger: a professor not teaching properly. Not that they didn't deal with that everyday in potions but the fact that she had vouched for the blond haired pounce didn't seem to be sitting well with her. _'At least Lupin seems like he'll be an alright Professor,'_ Gabriel said, sounding hopeful. _'He'll have a lot to make up for, though.I don't think we've learned anything worthwhile in Defense since our first year and he has to deal with the Fifth and Seventh years as well. Getting them ready for their OWLS and NEWTS is going to suck.'_

'I definitely don't envy him any,' Harry grimaced at the thought. It was a good thing he had just read most of Lockhart's classes away. Besides the Ravenclaws, he bet that none of his other yearmates had even thought of that. 'Snape seems to hate him.' He blinked in surprise at the venomous glare his potions professor was sending the new DADA teacher. 'Wonder how they know each other.'

_'Well Snape's a glorified bully so anyone he dislikes is alright with me,'_ Gabriel said gleefully. _'Judging from their ages, I would say that they went to school together.'_

Harry frowned around his mashed potatoes. 'How can you tell?'

_'See the way their magic is so bright around their chests?'_ Gabriel asked. Harry nodded, pretending to be paying attention to Ron and Hermione's conversation. _'Well, that isn't magic. That's their soul. Soul reading is rather easy and I'll teach you how to do it later but for now, I'd say that Snape and Lupin are less than a year apart in age. They probably were in first year together.'_

'Huh,' Harry thought and studied the glowing light that he now knew was a soul instead of magic. 'I guess that makes sense. If Snape was a Slytherin, I bet that Professor Lupin was a Gryffindor.'

_'With the way Slytherins and Gryffindors fight?'_ Gabriel snorted. '_I'm not taking that bet even if you paid me to.'_

Harry held back laughter, smiling brightly instead, listening to his housemates around him laugh and joke.

It was nice to be home.

* * *

><p><strong>So, this story is officially 94 pages long and 50,895 words, not counting this author's note. I am officially impressed with myself for writing my longest fanfic yet. And in less than three weeks. I can barely believe it.<strong>

**We are also up to 75 reviews, 173 favorites and 215 follows! Also in less than three weeks. Wow. Just wow. You are all amazing!**

**I also wanted to address a couple PMs I got, asking for similar stories to this. The Accidental Vessel by Alatar Maia is the closest thing that could comes to mind (great read), though it features Gabriel possessing Harry instead of him actually being Harry. I haven't been able to find any Gabriel!Harry stories and is one of the main reasons I wrote this (because there should at least be one).**

**Feel free to ask any and all questions you have and I will do my best to answer or at least tell you the reason why I can't answer (usually in effort to not give away the plot). Suggestions are also welcome but I can't promise I'll put them in the story.**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

The school year began like it had every other year with the addition of their new elective classes. Harry was also grateful to see that Professor Lupin proved to be much more competent that Lockhart or Quirrell had been, actually going as far as locating certain magical creatures and bringing them to class to teach them how to deal with them. The only thing that irked Harry was the fact that the Defense Professor had kept him from facing the Boggart during their first class. Even then, Lupin had a valid reason for stopping him. _'Let's face it,'_ Gabriel had sighed after hearing the explanation. _'Most people would assume that Voldemort would be our Boggart as well.'_

The truth was that with so many memories, neither Harry nor Gabriel knew what their Boggart would be. It definitely wasn't Voldemort (and wouldn't have been even if Harry had never touched that tree) but that was all that was certain. There were many things in Harry's memories that frightened him and if that thing could read minds and seek out fears as well as Lupin had alluded to, then it might even be able to pick up on Gabriel's fears.

'Which would be even worse than having a psychotic Dark Lord appearing in the classroom.' Their wings had shuddered at the very thought, the movement still causing odd tingles in his back whenever his wings moved.

Harry had to agree and sometimes even wondered if he wanted to have him memories back completely. Don't get him wrong, he wanted to be whole again but he had caught glimpses of his past as Gabriel before and he didn't much like what he saw.

His spirits were lifted, however, when he made his way with Hermione and Ron down to Care of Magical Creatures, Ruth purring happily in his arms.

"Mate," Ron asked as they walked, his own book looking rather pleased to see Harry. "Is that book purring at you?"

Hermione looked both amused and exasperated at the book that was cuddling in Harry's arms. Harry just gave Ron a grin, not bothering to reply as they arrived at Hagrid's hut just in time for the class to begin. "Alright, all ye follo' meh!" Hagrid called out to them. Harry noted with annoyance that Malfoy and his goons had also decided to take this class, snickering as Neville's book tried to eat him. Sighing, Harry promised himself to help the accident prone boy once they got to wherever Hagrid was taking them.

Speaking of which, Hagrid seemed to be leading them into the Forbidden Forest. Harry himself didn't have any problem with this but he could already hear the Slytherin's muttering complaints underneath their breaths. _'If they even try to mess this up,'_ Gabriel threatened emptily. There really wasn't anything they could do about it even if the Slytherin's did try to mess up Hagrid's first class.

"Right, here we are!" Hagrid called out as they reached a clearing not to far into the forest. Harry could even still see the castle from where they were standing. "Now open yeh books ta page-"

"How?" Malfoy sneered. Hagrid cut his sentence off, turning to look at the sneering Slytherin in confusion.

"'Ow what?" the large man asked and Harry could see that Hagrid actually didn't know what he was talking about. Harry had just been about to make his way over to Neville to help him but aborted the motion in favor of seeing how Hagrid dealt with this. As the Grounds Keeper, all the man could do was report incidents to the Head of House and hope that they would take care of the problem.

Now that he was a teacher, however, Hagrid had the authority to assign detentions and take points from the ferret faced pounce but it seemed like Draco had forgotten that small fact. Harry looked forward to seeing that realization shoved down the arrogant teens throat.

"How do we open the blasted things?" Draco demanded again, most of the class grumbling in agreement. It seemed like all of them had gotten their books before Harry had taught the shopkeeper how to open them.

Hagrid looked stunned. "'ave none of yeh open yer book yet?" he asked only to receive positive answers from everyone but Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

"You stroke the spine, Malfoy," Ron finally snapped before snickering. "Or just give it to Harry. They'll never bite again afterwards."

More than a few people turned to look at Harry, who was petting his own purring book as Hermione's tried to climb into his arms. Draco's face was an interesting mix between pissed and stunned as he looked on the rather odd scene. Harry resisted the urge to smirk at the blonde and felt rather proud of himself for succeeding.

With that, the lesson continued. Hagrid introduced them to Buckbeak the hippogriff and Harry was volunteered by the rest of the class to be the one to approach that rather pretty looking creature. _'Griffin's are better,'_ Gabriel said. _'But he is rather nice looking for a hippogriff.'_

All things considered, Harry didn't mind all that much when Hagrid picked him up and plopped him on Buckbeak's back. The flight was amazing and Harry's own wings ached to be put to use. If he wasn't in the middle of class, trying to blend in, and confident of his ability to use said wings, Harry just might have spread them and flown next to the hippogriff. It was the first time that he had flown since he'd regained his wings and he could the combined longing of himself and Gabriel to use them.

Then Malfoy did something stupid. Insulting Buckbeak after being warned at the beginning of the lesson that Hippogriff's were very proud creatures and shouldn't be insulted was sheer stupidity and left Harry wondering if the blond moron had paid even a bit of attention to Hagrid's warning at all. It was luck that Harry was still standing close enough to Buckbeak and Malfoy to tackle the blond annoyance out of the way of Buckbeak's attack. Malfoy landed on the ground uninjured and Harry ended up with rather impressive gashes on his arm.

"Are you mentally stupid?" He hissed, ignoring the pain as he focused on Malfoy. "Do you have a death wish? What part of 'hippogriff's are proud and violent creatures when provocated' did you not comprehend?!"

Malfoy didn't answer and just stared at him as if Harry had broken all his expectations in one go. He was looking, Harry realized, at his shoulder. Frowning, Harry turned his head to get a good look at the damage and was more than surprised to see that it was bleeding heavily and soaking into the fabric of his robes. Buckbeak grunted from behind him and Harry was surprised to hear the remorse in the hippogriff's uncertain grunt.

"I'm fine," he assured the concerned creature but was quickly corrected by an irate and worried Hermione who was flanked by Ron.

"You most certainly are not!" she snapped at him before signalling to Hagrid. "We'll take him to the Hospital Wing," she told the rather stunned man. Hagrid quickly gave them the go ahead and Harry found himself being pulled to his feet by the two.

"I'm fine!" he insisted, attempting to pull away. "No need for the hospital wing!" He hated that place. No offense to Madam Pomfrey but he had seen enough of the Hospital Wing during the past two years to last him a lifetime.

Arguing was futile, however, and Harry soon found himself picked up by Hagrid and carried to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey stood, seemingly waiting for them.

_'Well, we aren't getting out of here anytime soon,'_ Gabriel grumbled as the white clad women narrowed her eyes and tutted at them.

* * *

><p>If Harry thought that the school year would get any better after that, he had been sorely mistaken. The first potion's class of the year had certainly proven that and it was obvious that Snape, the bigot, was determined to make up for his rather tame demeanor last year by taking point from Harry for every single thing that the thirteen year old did.<p>

It seemed that the only reason Snape hadn't continued with his rather cruel and spiteful ways the year before were more due to the risk of Harry's magic attacking him out of anger than of any acknowledgement that Harry wasn't the arrogant brat that Snape thought he was. Gabriel was also becoming increasingly furious with how the man was acting and it was a miracle that Harry managed to keep his magic under control.

In fact the only sign of anything being wrong were the way his wings would flare out anytime that Snape came near them. Harry sometimes wished that his wings were tangible, if only to see the look on Snape's face when he was knocked to the ground by the appendages. _'If only,'_ Gabriel said mournfully and he was forced to content himself with the fact that Snape, despite his best efforts, would never manage to dishearten him.

'I have to wonder why he hates us so much,' Harry sighed after yet another potions class (the second of the year) where the man had done his very best to attack Harry and everything that he stood for. 'What did we ever do to him?'

_'Don't ask me to explain the minds of assholes,'_ Gabriel grumbled back, their wings twitching with suppressed anger. _'I would love to give him a large heeping of just deserts.'_

For some reason, Harry got the feeling that 'just deserts' had more meaning that he could currently remember. 'You know,' he began conversationally. 'I'm sure Fred and George would be dying to take advantage of being invisible.'

Gabriel was silent, probably processing what Harry was getting at, before the archangel began cackling merrily. _'What are we waiting for?'_ he asked and Harry forewent answering in favor of grabbing his cloak and going in search of two redheaded pranksters.

This promised to be fun.

* * *

><p>Fred and George, unsurprisingly, were more than willing to help him get a little payback. They were also more than willing to take advantage of his invisibility cloak, while also bringing another helpful factor to the table: The Marauder's Map, a magical map of Hogwarts that showed all the secret passageways along with telling them where everyone in the castle was at all times.<p>

_'That would be more than a bit useful,'_ Gabriel commented as they looked at the magic soaked map. The colors were so interwoven that the piece of parchment rather resembled a liquid rainbow. Harry had to blink a few time before the black writing on the parchment became visible against the glow of the magic. Dumbledore was pacing around his office, small footprints following the tag that read 'Albus Dumbledore'. McGonagall's tag was right next to that of Marcus Flint's and Harry assumed that the Slytherin seventh year was either in trouble or discussing his grades in her class (it was NEWTS year for him, after all).

"This is bloody brilliant!" Harry told the Twins, grinning at them. "Where'd you get it?"

"Nicked it from Filch's office our third year!" Fred told him, smirking.

"Was in his confiscation draw," George added. "Figured there had to be more to it than just parchment if it was in there."

"Cool." Harry studied the parchment a little longer. "There's got to be layers of spells on this! I bet it took forever for them to make." From the way the magic seemed to be weaved together like a blanket or well knitted shirt, Harry assumed that whoever the Marauder's were, they paid much more attention in class than they'd probably been given credit (pranksters never were). 'Some of that magic looks familiar, though,' Gabriel mused. Harry had to agree. There was a certain shine to more than one strand of magic in the design that seemed to have a strong sense of familiarity to him, almost as if he should know that magic even though he'd never seen it before in his life. Harry shook his head, frowning as he dismissed the thought. What were the odds of that happening?

"The Chamber isn't on this," Harry mused, catching the attention of the Twins.

"We know," George said mournfully, glancing sadly at the paper.

"We checked as soon as we heard that Ginny was missing," Fred added. "She wasn't anywhere in the range of the map."

Harry frowned before grinning. "If they didn't find the Chamber, I bet there are more than a few passageways that they didn't find either."

Fred and George nodded mournfully. They didn't seem to catch onto Harry's thought process. The map was obviously old as he knew for a fact that some of the passages on this were caved in. The Honeydukes passage was still in use and he didn't think that Filch had found it yet but was there really only two ways into Hogsmeade in this entire castle? Harry doubted it. The Marauder's, whoever they had been, hadn't found every secret in the castle and though the magic on it was done well enough that it had survived however long in Filch's office (assuming that no one had found it before the Twins and had it confiscated later) then they had obviously been talented and had used advanced spells for a student.

"So, black haired brother of ours," Fred began, regaining Harry's attention from his inner musings. "What did you have planned for our dearly hated Potions Professor?"

Harry grinned and told them, watching with satisfaction as their grins steadily grew the more they heard. "Is it manageable?"

"Oh, young naive Harry," George said mournfully, shaking his head in sadness. "It is more than doable!"

"It's positively genius!" Fred added and Harry almost felt bad for the asshole that was Severus Snape...almost.

"What are we waiting for?" George said and Harry let himself be dragged under the cloak by the enthusiastic twins.

With that, the three co-conspirators got to work on setting up their prank, Harry taking care of the more muggle aspects, seeing as the Twins had little to no knowledge on muggles. Gabriel spent most of the time cackling insanely as the worked, giving suggestions here and there on how to improve certain parts of their trap.

It was a good thing that it was a weekend because by the time they had finished, it was nearly four in the morning and they'd yet to sleep any that night. "Snape is going to murder us," George said in awe as they looked at their completed work.

A little bit of magic to help certain things that couldn't be rigged the muggle way and they had created what was essentially a giant version of a mouse trap. It was keyed to Snape's magic, something that Fred and George had rigged up while Harry was busy laying out the glue covered net and rigging it to the bucket filled with hair dye (which he was glad that he had bought during the summer holidays on what at the time seemed to be only a whim) along with a rather generous amount of glitter. Basically, the net would fall when Snape passed under it and the man would then be turned a rather nice shade of pink and covered in glitter.

It wasn't the most elaborate of traps but it was made with so little magic that it would be nearly impossible to trace back to the three pranksters and anyone could have rigged up the muggle aspects of it with the barest of knowledge. The kicker of the entire thing was the second magical part the Fred and George were working on. It was a rather complicated charm that would have various messages displaying on the back of the surely professor's robes depending on who was looking. The best part was that the spell couldn't be dispelled by anyone, not even Fred or George, and would last for at least two weeks.

The three took another few seconds to admire their work before ducking back underneath the invisibility cloak and heading back to the tower, easily avoiding Mrs. Norris and Filch. Harry quickly said goodnight as he darted up into the third year boys dorm and slipped into his bed, unnoticed by his still sleeping roommates.

He couldn't wait to see the look on Snape's face tomorrow and Gabriel was happily cackling in their head, pleased with at least being able to do some sort of payback.

* * *

><p><em>'Oh that was so worth the lack of sleep,'<em> Gabriel laughed as they watched a pissed of glittering pink Snape storm into the Great Hall the next morning. The man was swearing up a storm and seemed to simmer even more as the students at every table attempted to keep their laughter to themselves. Harry was suddenly very glad that he had, had practice at the Dursley's, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to keep the laughter in.

The best part was that message charm was working perfectly and to Harry nearly lost it when he read what it was currently displaying:** Bully Alert! Bully Alert! Keep Away From Small Children!**

'Fred and George are geniuses.' Harry admired the brightly flashing message. Snape didn't seem to notice that it was there yet, to busy blaming (for once, rightly) Harry for his current state and demanding that he (Harry, that is) be expelled for this. It didn't seem to matter that there was absolutely no proof that Harry had anything to do with the prank (even though he so totally did).

"Now Severus," Dumbledore tried to reason with the fuming professor. "There is no proof that Mr. Potter was involved with this." And there wouldn't be either, seeing as Harry had made sure to not cast any spells, making sure nothing could be traced back to him. He wasn't sure why Fred and George hadn't been worried about that but decided that they had probably found a solution to being traced awhile ago (or more likely, they just didn't care).

"I want whoever did they expelled!" The man seemed to realize blaming Harry wasn't going to get him anywhere and changed tactics. "This disrespect of a professor can't go unpunished!"

Hypocrite was the word that seemed to be on the minds of every student in the Great Hall as even most of the Slytherin's seemed to, grudgingly, like Professor Lupin and everyone knew what Snape said about him behind the man's back and to the man's face.

"I'm sure that the culprit didn't mean any harm," Dumbledore once again tried to placate the irate potion's master. "It is a relatively harmless prank."

Harry didn't know what was more amusing; watching the varying degrees of anger flash across Snape's face or the forced down amusement on the faces of the other professor's as the man continued to argue with the Headmaster on how the perpetrator would be punished. Even as the bell rang and student's filled out to head to their morning classes, the two continued to argue on the matter and potion's class was cancelled that day.

_'No Snape for a week,'_ Gabriel cheered. _'And no one will ever believe that we had anything to do with it now that Snape's immediately blamed us without evidence. Definitely worth the lack of sleep.'_

'Definitely,' Harry agreed, plans already forming for other pranks in his head, listening half-heartedly to Hermione's heated ranting on how it was wrong for Snape to immediately blame Harry, who didn't even do anything. He made a mental note to never corrected her of that notion.

_'I wonder how long it'll take him to notice the other part of the prank?'_ Gabriel wondered.

The echoing scream of rage that followed quickly answered that question.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, so I wanted this to be out by Saturday but well, I got distracted by my best friend kidnapping me to see a movie on Friday and spent the last two days fangirling with her. On that note...OH MY GOD KINGSMEN WAS AWESOME YOU MUST ALL GO SEE ITTTTTTTT! THAT MOVIE IS MADE OF AWESOME!<strong>

**Err...I'm done now but seriously, those of you that haven't seen the new movie, Kingsmen: The Secret Service...go see it. It made me cry. Up and Big Hero 6 didn't make me cry but this actually had me crying at one point.**

**So...Gabriel and Harry finally pull a prank! Granted, it's not the best prank in the world but it wasn't supposed to be. Harry is a bit new to pranking even if Gabriel has made it an art-form. Snape's also an asshole...nothing new there. Sorry to the Snape fans out there, I just don't see him changing willingly during this story if I want to stay true to his character in the book. He hates the word 'mudblood' and will punish those that say it...but that's about it for the moment. He still hates Harry, despises Remus, and abhors James while he wishes Sirius dead.**

**Feel free to ask any and all questions you have and I will give a response, whether it be answering the questions or telling you why I can't. I hope that you all enjoyed the new chapter!**


	17. Chapter 16

**We've made it to 100 reviews! You guys are all awesome and I love you! Enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Sixteen<strong>

The prank had opened up many gateways for Harry and Gabriel and, in true prankster fashion, they had targeted many of the people that had made it their life mission to torment them from day one.

Needless to say, Draco Malfoy and quite a few Slytherin's showed up to Breakfast one morning glittering different shades of pinks and yellows, much to the delight of the student body but they weren't the only targets on Harry's list, new ones added one day when he found Luna Lovegood, the strange girl that could see their wings, walking down the hallway with a ripped bag and damaged textbooks.

Honestly, Harry wasn't sure what caused him to react so badly as he had only met the girl once, but Harry had quickly located the Ravenclaws responsible (in nauseated him when he discovered that one of them was a _prefect_) and quickly destroyed what they loved most: their image. Coming to breakfast with clown hair and painted faces, their cloths decorated in neon signs that proclaimed them to bullies, Harry nearly choked on his breakfast when he saw the group break down sobbing in the middle of the Great Hall.

It was beginning to occur to him that he was going to far.

'_They deserved it!'_ Gabriel argued with him as they left the Great Hall that day. '_What right do they have to call someone crazy just because of their belief system?'_

'We went to far,' Harry admonished as he remembered the calming draughts that had been forced down the group's throats. 'We never should have gone that far. Pranks are one thing but what we did wasn't anything better than what they were doing to Luna!'

Gabriel seemed to go silent and Harry couldn't tell if his memories were sulking or thinking it over. 'We'd be a psychiatrist's dream patient.'

Whether or not Gabriel agreed with him on if they'd gone to far (which they totally had) didn't seem to matter as laughter rang through their head. '_You got that right,'_ Gabriel laughed.

After seeing the reactions that came from the Ravenclaw girls, Harry couldn't bring himself to do anymore big pranks. With Snape, he knew that the man deserved it and besides rage, it didn't actually hurt the professor (who Harry was beginning to doubt actually had feelings. Gabriel and he had a bet going on) and Malfoy deserved to have his insane ego brought down a few notches from its mountain high pedestal.

But if it wasn't one thing, it was another. Snape, no matter if there was evidence or not, had decided (rightly so, for once) that Harry was the root of all his problems over the last two weeks and was determined to make Harry's life a living hell, surpassing all of his actions in years previous. Harry couldn't go to class without leaving with a detention and he barely had time for homework, let alone to prank anyone.

It was because of this that the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, Oliver Wood, was fuming as Harry arrived three hours late to practice the third day in a row. "That's it!" Wood shouted, his face turning an impressive shade of red. "You've had detention every day this week and I can't remember the last time we practiced with our Seeker in attendance. What is Snape even giving you detention for?!"

"Today?" Harry asked dryly, rather fed up himself with what was going on, his wings fidgeting as he tried to stop his irritation from sending them sliding through the other members of the Quidditch team. "I was apparently breathing too loud."

Oliver paused mid-rant to just stare at him, astonished at the most blatantly stupid reason to give someone a detention in his school career. Fred and George also raised their eyebrows in surprise. The Twins had been given pointless detentions from the Potion's Master before and even they knew that this was so obvious mistreatment of a student that Snape should have known better. "You've got to be kidding," Katie Bell deadpanned after taking a minute for his answer to sink in.

Oliver didn't appear to be able to form words and settled for a wordless scream of rage instead. "We are going to Professor McGonagall," he managed to hiss after he forced himself to calm down. "I don't care if she has to get Headmaster Dumbledore involved, this is going to far. I bet that you haven't any time to do homework, let alone practice for the game!"

It was true. Harry was just glad that it was the second month of school, otherwise he might be failing all of his classes at this point. Runes, Transfiguration, and Potions had new essays nearly everyday and Harry was just glad that Charms was on Mondays or else he would be utterly screwed. It also helped that Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures rarely ever assigned out of class work and Harry had begun skipping more than just History of Magic to get all of his work done on time.

Yet he didn't really think that Professor McGonagall would really do anything to stop the problem. They had gone to her during their first year with their suspicions and she had just brushed them off. Sure she had listened last year after the confrontation with Malfoy and she had taken time out of her busy schedule to help Harry learn to better control his magic, only stopping when it became impossible to meet as the Heir of Slytherin began petrifying more and more people but this was a bit different. This was a complaint towards another teacher, one that had gotten away with harassing him for the past two years.

What was going to make this year any different?

The answer was homework. As soon as Wood had moved on from his lack of ability to show up for Quidditch to also not being able to get any homework done, McGonagall lost it. "Then how have you been getting your essays in, Mr. Potter," she asked, her eyes narrowed and seeming to gleam with a promised punishment if he even tried lying to her.

_'Then don't,'_ Gabriel offered. _'Sometimes, the truth is a lot harder to deal with than a lie.'_

"I've been skipping History of Magic," he finally said, making sure to shift his feet instead of his wings in discomfort. He doubted that she would believe him if he just stood there and stated it matter-of-factly. "I've also been skipping dinner."

And lunch but she didn't really need to know that he'd only eaten toast for the past few weeks. Not to mention the late nighters he'd been pulling just to keep up on his assigned reading. In fact, ignoring the essays, Harry had been forced to forego many activities the last few weeks as classes began giving out more and more work. He hadn't even seen Hope or any of the others since the beginning of the year! Harry's stomach gave another uncomfortable lurch, as it had be wont to do since he virtually stopped eating, and he ignored it in favor of studying the rage in his Head of House's eyes. She was fuming, something that he hadn't really seen her do before. Be angry, yes. More than once. Be stern and unrelenting? All the time! But fuming so badly that he couldn't even understand her when she began to talk and stormed out of the classroom? Nope. At least last year he sort of knew to follow her but this year, neither Oliver or Harry wanted to see just what their professor was going to do to he colleague.

"Should we just wait here?" Harry asked the stunned Quidditch Captain.

"I don't know," Oliver said, shaking his head with a frown. "I don't think I've ever seen her that angry. Snape seems to have overstepped a line."

"What line?" Harry snorted and gained a questioning look from the other. "That man has been harassing me from day one! I don't even know why he hates me so much!" He wasn't buying the 'your father saved his life' excuse that Dumbledore had given him at the end of his first year one bit. "He keeps comparing me to my father and I've never even met the man!" How could he be like someone that, until first year, he hadn't even known what they looked like?

Oliver gave him a sympathetic look. "The man's horrible," the seventh year agreed. "I never learned a thing from him during class and frankly, I doubt that anyone does. It amazes me that Dumbledore still keeps him around, glorified bully of a professor that he is."

"No kidding." Harry sighed and this time Oliver heard it when Harry's stomach growled in discontent.

"When was the last time you ate," the Quidditch Captain asked, suddenly back to being stern as he looked at Harry's expression. "I don't think I've seen you at lunch all week."

"I've been skipping," Harry shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant about it. "Had homework and I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of assigning me another detention for not getting his stupid essays done."

_'Bastard,'_ Gabriel grumbled. _'Can't believe he still works here. Wonder how he even got the job in the first place.'_

'No idea,' Harry answered as he and Oliver fell into a rather tense silence, the Quidditch Captain having practically ordered him to eat tomorrow, homework or no homework.

_'Waiting sucks,'_ Gabriel sighed as time seemed to pass by.

'You bet it does.'

* * *

><p>Minerva McGonagall was furious. No, she was beyond furious. When Harry and Wood had come to her last year, it had been different. The problem was amongst the students and she had easily taken care of that in attempt to make up for brushing of Harry's rather well-founded worries the year before.<p>

Now Severus had crossed a line and she hoped that the man was ready to pay for it. She didn't doubt for a second that it had been more than just dinner he was skipping, his elective, Runes, being held twice a week and nearly always having an essay assigned each class. Bookwork was a given after every class that Hogwarts had and she knew that Filius, Severus, and herself, always had an essay due for the next lesson. If the boy had been skipping History of Magic, then he would have had to find time to get those essays in as well. She had no doubt that dinner wasn't the only meal he had been skipping.

There was a reason that detentions weren't given out daily and Severus had ignored that reason in favor of his blind hatred towards a dead man that Harry Potter had never even met.

She arrived at his office with time to spare, not even bothering knocking as she threw the door open and saw Severus' face twist in surprise. "Severus Snape," she growled and was more than pleased when he former student immediately stood to attention. It seemed that some things never went away completely, she thought in satisfaction. "Fourteen detentions in two weeks, Severus."

It did him no favors that his face immediately twisted into scorn. She cut him off before he even tried to speak. "Your dententions are right after dinner and until curfew, Severus," she snapped. "I know that for a fact as you have always operated that way. When did you think that he would have time for his classwork? Surely not just on the weekends! Not while taking Ancient Runes, getting his assigned reading done, and finished the essays assigned by other classes! I had wondered why the essays Mr. Potter had turned in were subpar to his usual work and now I know why!"

His face hadn't changed, the same scornful sneer in place as she ranted. That only further infuriated her and she had to stop herself from cursing her former student. "I thought better of you," she snapped and suddenly, he wasn't looking all that scornful as he had been. "It's been what, fifteen years? Sixteen? And you can't let go of the hatred of a man twelve years dead."

Snape finally snapped. "JAMES POTTER-!"

"IS DEAD!" Minerva roared back, causing him to step back in shock. "He died protecting his son! He died before he could even begin to live and you are here, alive, while he lies dead and buried! Harry Potter and James Potter aren't the same and never will be for the simple fact that Harry never had the chance to know the man!"

Something cracked in Severus and he stared at her, lost for words and his rage gone. Minerva didn't let that stop her, though. This anger and self-righteous behavior had gone on for long enough. "James Potter is dead. Sirius Black is the most wanted man in the Wizarding World and the Muggle World, not to mention quite possibly insane. Peter Pettigrew is dead. Remus Lupin? Well, this is the first job that Remus has been able to get in quite a long time. The Marauders all came to a horrible end and here you are, still holding onto your childhood rivalry and you know for a fact that you gave as good as you got. You have a job and career while most of them barely had a chance to live."

Severus was looking at her as if he'd never seen her before and she had a horrible feeling that she just wasn't getting through that thick head of his. "I had hoped you would realize on your own and change. I hoped that I wouldn't have to interfere and you would prove yourself to be a professional. But you have proven me wrong time and time again. Well no more!" She snapped at him, her voice raising. "Dumbledore has been lenient on you, Severus, and if he would reel you in, I'll go above him. You have deliberately put the welfare and education of a child at risk and you've done it more than once! This time, you will deal with the consequences of your actions."

Severus was becoming pale as she talked and seemed to have finally realized that the line he had crossed couldn't be fixed. She had tried for years, since he had first began working here, to see the good in him. To find the bright child that she remembered from her Hogwarts years. The rivalry with James Potter and his friends, to hear Severus tell it, was bullying but she remembered and knew for a fact that Severus was never the victim. The cutting curse he had invented, and yes, she knew about that, had been used on the Marauder's more than once. Yet he had never been punished for it just like the Marauder's hadn't been punished for their pranks.

It was time to stop waiting to see the good and time to start protecting her students because it seemed that no one else was going to. "Be prepared," she told him. "The Board will be notified by morning and you'll no doubt be investigated. Sharpen up and actually teach the students, not talk to them, and maybe you'll keep your job."

"Minerva," Severus began, obviously about to try and talk her out of it. Ever the Slytherin, she thought fondly but only frowned at him, turning to leave.

At the door, she stopped and look at him. He looked lost and angry at the same time and she had to wonder how it was that he had turned out this way.

"You know, Severus," she told him as she prepared to leave. "You've become exactly what you claimed to hate: a Bully."

She left a silent office behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow. Just wow. I really wasn't expecting this to be done tonight but that last scene was longer than I thought it was going to be. <strong>

**So some of you have noticed that 'Gabriel', personality wise, isn't that much like Loki, who he pretended to be for however many centuries. There's a reason for that and it'll be discussed in later chapters, but as you can see from the beginning of the chapter, his more violent prankster side is beginning to come out and that side is severely clashing with Harry's ideals. There'll be more and more tension on that front as chapters come out and Harry'll have to reconcile that more violent side with the personality that he's already come to expect from 'Gabriel'.**

**Also, the fallout of Harry's pranks have finally arrived! Snape has finally let his emotions get the better of him and McGonagall's fed up with it. I don't actually know how I feel about that scene but I also knew that Snape wouldn't let the fact that he'd been pranked go unanswered for. I was originally going to add a scene with Remus (because I love him and he hasn't really gotten a good scene in yet) but I felt that the chapter had pretty much ended itself after McGonagall left so you'll have to wait until the next chapter to see Harry finally have a one on one chat with Remus. **

**Snape is also finally developing as a character in this fic! I've been trying to figure out what to do with him since the beginning as I both love and hate his character. There are a lot of things in cannon that I felt he shouldn't be able to get away with and that the professor's were turning too much of a blind eye towards and this is my way of going about fixing it. Dumbledore isn't going to be able to protect him this time!**

**Two chapters in one day! I hope that makes up for not getting one on Saturday. Happy late Valentines!**

**Feel free to ask any questions and I'll either answer or send you a PM to tell you why I can't answer.**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

Harry never did find out what Professor McGonagall said to the man but suddenly his detentions stopped and he was able to reclaim his free time again; free time that was quickly claimed by Oliver in order to catch him up on what he had been missing for the last few weeks.

This also meant that he was free to make plans for the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year and Harry was beyond excited at being able to catch his first glimpse of the village that sat just within the protective borders that Gabriel had put around the Forbidden Forest during his time as a tree. It was because of this that Hogsmeade was the largest pure Wizarding populated town within the UK, or at least that was what Gabriel believed.

_'When I put up barriers,'_ the archangel said with an air of self-satisfaction._ 'They stay the way that I made them.'_

He was stopped from joining the other students that were going down to the village by a sheepish and regretful looking Professor Lupin. "Hello, Harry." He greeted, sounding a bit less rugged than he had when he'd first met the professor on the train.

"Professor Lupin," Harry replied back, getting the feeling that this was more than just a teacher running into a student in the halls. The professor looked uncomfortable, more so than Harry had ever seen the man, before sighing and motioning for Harry to follow him. More curious than anything else, Harry decided to allow the man (whose magic still looked like an animal to him, and even more curiously, so did his soul).

_'Ooh,'_ Gabriel whispered in Harry's mind, going silent when Harry tried to demand an explanation. Frustrated with his other self, he turned his full attention to a hesitating Professor Lupin, motioning (politely) for the man to speak.

"Professor Dumbledore has asked me," he began before hesitating again. "He's asked me to inform you that due to the seriousness of Sirius Black's escape, it has been decided that, for your own safety, you remain in the castle during Hogsmeade weekends."

Harry felt his eyebrows shoot up. Really? They had to be kidding. "Then why," he asked with narrowed eyes. "Are the rest of the students allowed to go into town and not me?"

He knew the reason. It was fairly obvious since he'd overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking that night in the Leaky Cauldron but he wanted them to tell him. If the school thought that he would easily go along with such a ruling, one that seemed unfair if you didn't know all the facts, they were sorely mistaken. He'd enough of adults ruling his life and feeling justified in keeping information from him, things that could potentially be more than a bit important.

Lupin brought a hand up to rub his eyes, a pained expression crossing his face as he sighed. "This isn't a discussion that we should have here." The professor searched Harry's face, looking for something and nodding as he apparently found it. "If you would follow me to my office, then I will explain."

_'That was easy,'_ Gabriel commented in surprise. It was usually much harder getting information out of adults than Lupin was making it. In fact, the man seemed surprisingly willing to give him the information he was asking for, something that Harry didn't have any recent memories of happening with any other adult he'd encountered. It was refreshing, to say the least.

That didn't mean that he wasn't going to make this conversation harder than the man probably wanted it to be just because he was being so cooperative in telling Harry what he wanted to know. He could be nice and easily except the answers he was no doubt going to get...yet he found that if he did that, he was just opening himself up to have his life dictated for him and he didn't want that. Maybe he wouldn't have minded if he was still the same person he had been in first year, seeking the attention of others and revelling in it when it was given despite how it might affect him; nevertheless, that wasn't the case anymore and Harry had enjoyed the freedom he'd had over the summer more than he'd ever thought possible. He wasn't going to give that up to anyone.

Gabriel quite agreed with him, and even though his other half kept quiet, he knew what he would say. He knew that Gabriel, and whoever else they had once been, had the same appreciation for freedom and making their own decisions as he did and sometimes, he wondered what had happened in his first life to cause such a lasting thirst to make his own decisions._ 'Two years ago and most of what you just contemplated would have went right over your head,'_ Gabriel told him, effectively cutting off Harry's thought process and drawing him back into the real world where he had, without realizing it, started to follow Professor Lupin to his office on what seemed to be autopilot, his wings folded tightly to his back to avoid hitting any of the wandering students.

Gabriel was right of course. Two year ago, Harry wouldn't have been able to even understand what being two people meant, much less accept that one of those different sides was an Archangel and the Messenger of God and whatever else Gabriel was that he hadn't told Harry about yet. There was no denial from the obviously listening memories so Harry felt confident in assuming that there was more to his other half than he was currently aware of.

He doubted that Archangel's usually took joy in tormenting human bullies, no matter what age they were._ 'No,'_ Gabriel answered quietly. _'They didn't.'_

Harry was prevented from inquiring further by their arrival to the Defense classroom and consequently, the office that was located inside. His attention was immediately by strange creature that was in the middle of the room, locked inside a water tank. "What is that?!" he half demanded half asked.

"That is a grindylow." The professor quickly told him. "I had it brought in for our next lesson."

Well, that was certainly going to be an interesting lesson if there ever was one, Harry grimaced as he looked at the indescribable creature that was currently slamming against its watery cage with all its strength. Harry couldn't even feel sorry for it as it screeched in anger. _'That is definitely _not_ cute,'_ Gabriel proclaimed seriously. Harry completely agreed.

Havoc and Tinker picked that moment to stick their heads out of his pockets in an attempt to see what was causing all that racket. They both let out high pitched screams as they saw the offending grindylow, ducking back into his pockets as Lupin looked at them, startled. "Were those pixies?" he asked, seemingly stunned and amused.

"Cornish pixies," Harry felt the need to specify.

"Why are they in your pockets?" The professor asked as he seemed to try not to laugh. Harry's opinion of the man grew just a tad.

"That would be because they didn't really want to leave after Lockhart set a whole cage of them free." Harry explained easily. "They're cute."

The professor just shook his head, probably baffled by Harry's (and Gabriel's) logic on why he had let them stay in his pockets. The man was also no doubt wondering if any of the other professors were aware of Havoc and Tinker's presence, something that Harry wasn't really certain of considering none of them had ever said anything to the thirteen year old. "You said that you'd explain," Harry prompted after a few moments of silence.

"So I did," he sighed in response and Harry got the feeling that he probably wasn't going to like what he was about to hear. In fact, from the look on Lupin's face, he was certain that he was going to hate hearing everything that the man was about to say and he knew it. "You might want to have a seat."

Harry didn't sit, his wings fluttering back and forth in agitation, something that he doubted being in a chair would help. The professor didn't seem perturbed by this and began speaking. "The first thing you should know is that I knew you father. We were actually friends during our time at Hogwarts together. We were quite a rambunctious group of Gryffindors and the four of us," the professor gave a wistful smile. "Well, we were the best of friends."

"Four?" Harry prompted gently, even though he already had an idea of who one of the other two had been.

"Myself, James, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black." Lupin confirmed sadly. "Peter was a timid fellow but he could easily be the most brave of us when necessary. That changed during the war and as time passed, it was a wonder that he could look at his shadow without fainting. Dark days, those times and I fear that it changed us in ways that were likely not for the better."

Harry didn't interrupted as the man collected himself before continuing. "We'd gotten news that the Dark Lord was targeting Lily and James. We never found out why and I suspect that they, themselves, weren't completely sure of the reason, but Lily was already pregnant at the time and they decided to go into hiding just to be safe, choosing to use the Fidelius Charm to protect themselves."

He had no idea what the meant and it must have showed on his face because Lupin chuckled. "The Fidelius is the most powerful secret charm in existence. It relies on the trust that the host family places in a friend and completely wipes out any information about a place from all the minds and records of it in existence. Your parents home in Godric's Hollow was protected by such charm and who better to be their secret keeper than Sirius Black. Voldemort should never have been able to find them."

And suddenly Harry understood why the man was so reluctant to tell him this. He understood why Draco Malfoy had been hinting towards him getting vengeance on Black since school began and he understood the pitying look on the faces of the professor's whenever the man was mentioned. "Black sold them out to Voldemort," he said and didn't even need the confirmation from Lupin.

There was a wrongness to that sentence that had Harry pausing, forcing back a frown as he tried to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from. _'There's more to this,'_ Gabriel said with certainty._ 'I don't know what it is or why Lupin doesn't seem to know but there is definitely more to this than what we're hearing now.'_

Harry agreed but he also didn't agree. Why should he care if there was more to the story when because of this one man, he'd spent a decade in a closet, bullie, and neglected by his so called family after a madman had tried to kill him and had succeeded in killing his parents, leaving him an orphan? The betrayal of someone who was supposed to be family, someone you trusted with the life of not only yourself and your family stabbing you in the back, stung badly in his chest for reasons that Harry couldn't, or wouldn't, acknowledge.

"I'm sorry," Lupin told him, correctly interpreting the rage and grief in Harry's eyes. "It's not an easy thing to accept, I know." And he did. Harry didn't need to look farther from Lupin's eyes to know that much. "Sirius Black was James Potter's best friend and he betrayed him that night twelve years ago. Only, Voldemort wasn't successful in killing you and in a strange turn of events, was destroyed himself. Peter, as timid and jumpy as the war had made him, tracked Sirius down to a muggle town, confronting him."

Lupin paused again and Harry watched as the man visually composed himself, his eyes watering a bit suspiciously. "Sirius killed Peter and the thirteen muggle bystanders that were in the area at the was nothing left of poor Peter but a finger and I'm sad to say that it was only then that the Aurors caught up with him and he was taken into custody."

Harry suddenly understood why no one had ever told him about this before. How did you tell someone that your parent's best friend went absolutely mad, betrayed them, and then massacred thirteen innocent people along with one of his friends? It also explained why Lupin himself had been reluctant to tell him what was going on and Harry nearly felt sorry for putting the man through retelling that story.

Almost. He had needed to know and it was about time that someone what honest with him about why a random stranger (although Sirius Black wasn't as much of a stranger that Harry had thought he was) was trying to kill him. It was certainly better than 'I don't know' and 'You survived due to the power of love'._ 'I still can't believe that he tried to pull that one on us!'_ Gabriel snickered inside their head. It was ridiculous that Dumbledore had expected him just to buy that his mother was the only one in the Wizarding World that had died trying to save her child and that was why Harry had survived. Yeah right.

The rest of their meeting was interrupted by a strangely docile Snape. The Potion's Master didn't even look Harry's way when he entered the room and practically ignored Lupin, even though this was probably a great moment to throw in another derogatory comment towards the already emotionally strained man but, uncharacteristically, he kept silent and seemed to almost flinched when Lupin thanked him. _'What I wouldn't give to know what McGonagall said to him,'_ Gabriel marveled as Snape left with two wide eyed wizards starring in his wake.

"That was..." Lupin started to say before remembering who he was talking to and cutting himself off abruptly. It seemed that he didn't want to give Harry a wrong impression of his Potions Professor or was reminding himself that it was unprofessional to talk about ones colleague to ones student, something that Snape hadn't given him the same courtesy of before.

"Weird." Harry finished. "Really weird. I wonder what Professor McGonagall said to him?" Lupin looked at him in surprise but took the opening as it was: an opportunity to continue to conversation now that Harry had gotten the information that he'd wanted, the potion that Snape had delivered giving off an ungodly smell from its place in the room. If Harry didn't know for a fact that nearly all potions smelled that bad, he would have thought that Snape was trying to poison the Defense Professor in the most unsubtle way ever invented.

Their conversation continued on from there and Harry felt himself enjoying talking to an adult for the first time since he'd met Hagrid (who was more of an overgrown kid than an adult) and before he knew it, it was nearly time for lunch and the Professor still needed to go over the fifth and seventh year essays (it was OWL and NEWT year for those age groups and Professor Lupin was working overtime to try and get them ready after years of having poor Defense Professor's).

So Harry said his goodbyes as the professor moved to catch up on the work he had missed, promising not to go down to the village until it was certain that Black wasn't going to jump out behind a building at him (even though he doubted that was likely, seeing as the few lives he had lived in the Wizarding World had clear memories of the village being quite populated) and went down to the Great Hall to have lunch.

Ron and Hermione weren't back yet, as was evident as he sat next to Neville in the nearly empty Great Hall, nibbling on a sandwich he had made out of the chicken and bread that was present on the table. "Hi Harry," Neville greeted him when he noticed the other boy, the round faced third year looking around for the other members of the Gryffindor Trio. "You didn't go to the village?" Neville asked, curious.

Harry shook his head. "Too much risk with Sirius Black on the loose." He explained easily, Gabriel grumbling at the unfairness of it all. "The Professors don't think the village is safe." And considering how many battles had taken place there during Grindelwald's war and then Voldemort's, Harry honestly couldn't blame them. Being so close to Hogwarts, it was like the village had a giant sign advertising 'Come attack me!' on it. Neville seemed to be thinking the same thing as he nodded.

"Gran didn't want me going for the same reason," Neville confided in him. "Said that if Black was still on the run last year, she'd think about letting me go but until then..."

Harry grimaced and nodded, looking around to see that only first and second year students were still in the Great Hall at all. "At least we'll have time to catch up on our Rune's homework." Neville grinned brightly at Harry's attempt to make light of the fact they seemed to be the only ones that were old enough not at the village.

"What did you think about problem six in the packet?" Neville asked, a strange light in his eyes that Harry hadn't seen anything but Herbology put there. It would figure that Neville had finally found something other than Herbology that he could get into.

The following few hours were spent discussing the pros and cons of each rune and how hard it was to remember each sequence that Babbling assigned them every three days. It seemed that the practice was at least improving Neville's memory, which was a plus considering how hard the other boy had, had it trying to remember the common room passwords and the different materials for each class.

Harry was actually disappointed when Neville told him that he had to go down to the greenhouse to talk to Professor Sprout about more advanced work. It seemed that the Hufflepuff head of house had noticed that the current class work as a bit beneath Neville's level and was taking steps to make sure that he was still getting something out of coming to class. Today was the first day since the beginning of the school year that Sprout had enough free time to come up with a lesson plan for him. "I think she wants to apprentice me," Neville to him as Harry walked with the boy down to the greenhouses, planning on visiting Hope and her foals. "Gran thinks I'd be better served to pay more attention in Defense but Professor Sprout keeps telling me that a good Herbologist is worth ten times as much as someone proficient in Defense."

_'Makes sense,'_ Gabriel acknowledged._ 'Being good at defending yourself is a well and good but having an in depth knowledge of Herbology gives you the advantage of turning the whole battlefield into your weapon.'_

'That's true,' Harry nodded as he waved goodbye to Neville, making his way down to Hagrid's hut where he could already see Sol's golden freckled hide flickering through the trees. It always amazed him how the unicorn family always seemed to know when he was coming to visit. 'Casting spells is just that much harder when the ground you're standing on is the one attacking you.'

"'Ello 'Arry!" Hagrid called out, appearing from behind his hut. "Ah was 'ondering why this lot was ere!"

"Hello Hagrid!" Harry waved back, dodging the excited golden and white unicorn that shot from behind the hut, heading straight at him. He laughed as he mentally shook his head in surprise. He'd had so little time since returning to Hogwarts that he hadn't realized just how big Hope's foals had gotten. Sol was nearly as tall as his mother, his sisters already just as big as Hope was, though they were noticeably younger than their mother. "You lot have gotten so big!" Harry exclaimed as Sol reared in pleasure.

""Aven't they?" Hagrid grinned, proud. "Ah've been tryin' ta get them ta come ta class tomorra. Ah bet everyone 'ould be pleased ta see a unicorn there!"

Harry brightened at the idea, never one to turn down any ideas that would let him see the family of four more than he currently did. "I bet it would be great experience," he told a skeptical Hope as she huffed in answer to Hagrid's request. "Celestica, Mystica, and Sol have only ever met Hagrid and me, human wise, and they do need to learn that no everyone has good intentions," he reminded her. The unicorn whinnied, obviously worried about an attack like she had suffered.

Harry laughed, "Don't worry. If old Voldemort shows up, I'll be sure to blast him for you." Not that the Dark Lord was likely to show up, considering her was currently a wraith that had no corporel body. He doubted that anything like the diary was here, either.

Hope gave another uncertain whiny, not at all pleased by the idea but seeing that practicality of it. Harry knew for a fact that he wasn't the first human that she had ever met (and neither was Voldemort) and this was probably one of the safer ways to introduce the nearly grown foals to humans other than Harry without risking them being hurt.

Hope took a few moments before grunting her agreement, Hagrid cheering happily in the background as he realized that he would be getting his demonstration after all. "I'll make sure that nothing happens to them," he promised her as she gave Hagrid what could only be described as a skeptical look. She huffed, making sure that he knew that she expected nothing less, as Hagrid began excitedly telling the three listening foals that they would get to come to class tomorrow after all. Sol seemed especially delighted by this fact, nearly toppling Harry over in his excitement.

Tomorrow was certainly going to be interesting.

* * *

><p><strong>Well this was supposed to be up days ago. My internet is on the fritz for some reason or another and it's kinda pissing me off since we <strong>_**just**_** got a new router so it should be fine now. Freaking evil internet providers...**

**So new chapter! The long awaited conversation with Lupin and a glimpse into the changes that the last chapter brought! Gabriel has an idea of what Remus is now, but Harry's still in the dark. Not to mention Ron and Hermione (along with an entire class) are finally going to meet Celestica, Mystica, and Sol! **

**Again, sorry for the long wait and I hope you enjoy the newest chapter. Feel free to ask any and all questions and if I can't answer, I'll at least make sure to send you a response telling you why.**

**You're all amazing! **

**~MisteryMaiden~**


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